Love in action
by Advanceforeverandafter
Summary: Elena is a multinational company's owner's 17 year old daughter who is completely in love with her arrogant yet mesmerizing bodyguard, who wants nothing to do with the spoiled brat but has to protect her.
1. Elena Gilbert

**A little new in the writing area, that means I'm inexperienced so I want you to go easy on me. Constructive criticism is more than appreciated. Plus I must inform you English is not my native language so I want you to put that under consideration as well while reading this. As a side note This story is AU so that gives me the liberty to be as crazy as I wanna be.**

**Summary: Elena is a multinational company's owner's 17 year old daughter who is completely in love with her arrogant yet mesmerizing bodyguard who wants nothing to do with the spoiled brat but has to protect her.**

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><p>Elena woke up to another Monday morning sun, streaming through her window. The bright beams completely lit up her luxurious room. Rolling around she spotted the clock and realized she had exactly 45 minutes to get dressed and have breakfast.<em>Yep 45 minutes it is<em>,her thoughts pondered as she got out of the bed and went to the bathroom. _45 minutes before _He_ tries to teach me punctuality again._ Sighing dreamily at the thought of _him _Elena went to take care of her morning routines.

Ready for the day from head to toe, Elena exited her room and was immediately greeted by a maid at the door with a glass of juice. Elena was accustomed to such luxuries and pampering in her life, reason being she was a Gilbert and that last name carried a _lot_ of weight. She _was_ Grayson Gilbert's only child and him owning his multinational company made him undoubtedly, the richest man of Mysticfalls.

Although Elena Gilbert was loaded, you wouldn't really refer to her as spoiled. True she had a spoiled streak when it came to shopping, but that hardly matters when one puts in consideration that she didn't comprise of worse attributes; that most certainly other rich kids her age have. Viewing her as an individual, she was far from what one would expect from someone of her stature. She was kind and gentle and those characteristics went hand in hand with others traits that she had, like being naive and innocent. On a general level Elena loved her life, agreeably she did, but she never understood certain restrictions that her role as a Gilbert also offered. Like discrimination, class differences and restricted freedom. Those were the aspects of her life which she hated but had accumulated to by now. Anyways if it weren't for restrictions placed upon her lifestyle, she wouldn't have been gifted the biggest gift of her life, that was most certainly Damon Salvatore her bodyguard.

Even the thought of him made the young girl squeal, she quickly looked around the corridor to see if anybody heard her and possibly stood pondering that she might be crazy. Thankfully nobody was present; which was out of the ordinary because usually the corridors were lined with servants, scrubbing and cleaning every inch of the mansion.

She quickly made her way downstairs towards the dining hall, where she knew her father would be waiting for her, for their usual father and daughter early breakfast. Her father was an extremely busy man which is not a surprise because owning a company doesn't really give you much of a choice. _But that still didn't mean you can't even take your time out for your only child, _the mere thought made Elena huff, another aspect of her life she hated. The only time she saw her father throughout the day was during the breakfast. _Yeah, during breakfast when two strangers sat at the opposite ends of a huge table that helps distancing them even further than they already were._ With overbearing gloom she entered the dinning hall.

And there he was; her father, sitting at the far end of the gigantic table with his face hidden behind the news paper as his butler served him. Without even looking up he greeted her in a manner one greets an employee. "You do realize you're late, _again_?" Elena stared at the news paper in disbelief. "Yes dad but it was only five min.." before she could complete what she was saying her father cut her half way through sentence and said, "Five minutes is not what matters, what matters _is, _is that you're late, now I don't want to see this happening ever again, is that clear?" Grayson Gilbert only lowered his news paper once during the entire conversation only to glare at his daughter, who was staring at the floor trying to hide the tears glimmering in her eyes and he proceeded further, "Now eat and leave or you'll be late for school too." Elena simply nodded and sat down.

She wasn't upset about what he said to her, she was upset because it was the _only_ thing he said to her. This was the type of conversations she had with her father, that is if she ever had any and she had gotten used to it. But what she still had to get used to was the fact: how did all of this turn out to be this way? They were closer, till she was five they were very close, that was until her mother left them. _How was that her fault, why was she being punished for something she had no hand in? _She thought as she wiped her tears away. She sighed and hurriedly ate in order to not make another waiting man angry, currently said man would be waiting outside next to the car, assumably glaring at his watch constantly. _His_ image brought a smile to Elena's lips and made her forget about her horrible start of the day, _On second thought I might take my time, cause being angry makes him even sexier and cuter than normal._

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><p><strong>I promise Damon's gonna be there in the next chapter, so all you have to do is REVIEW and we'll see Damon!<strong>


	2. Damon Salvatore

**Hello everyone I'm back with the second chapter! God those who reviewed my first one made me more than happy. So I would like to say thank you! Hope you review again! Now let's get on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries, If I did then Delena would already have been a couple!**

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><p>As Elena exited the dining room she breadth deeply and wished the next day would be better for her dad and her. On seeing her, a maid approached with her matching carry bag for the day. It was pink like her expensive outfit. Pink, that also happened to be her favorite colour.<p>

Checking herself one last time in the full length lobby mirror, Elena smiled with content. "Hopefully today he might look at me the way I want him to and not in his usual frowny arrogant jackass way." Huffed Elena.

Smiling she exited the main door, her excitement was clear in her demeanor, her feet moved faster than necessary and her smile expanded with each step. It looked as if she would be seeing him after a long time, but whereas in actuality the last time she saw him was only 10 hours ago.

As she reached the enormous driveway of the mansion she spotted her limousine along with the chauffeur ready to take her to school. But there was something missing out of the picture. _Someone_ to be precise, A certain someone her eyes longed to see every second of the day. Her gaze scanned the area in front when someone spoke in a familiar businesslike tone from right behind her.

"You're late." That voice froze her in the spot; she closed her eyes and grinned like an idiot. Although the voice was slightly cold, hard and also somewhat strict; it still made her giddy. Maybe the reason being; it was _his_ voice, which was all that mattered to her and not the way he spoke to her.

"Miss Gilbert..." Elena spun around instantly, coming face to face with the man of her dreams and _reality_, considering the fact he was a part of her reality but still unbearably unreachable. All thoughts left her mind as her eyes landed on his gorgeous face. _I swear, Greek gods would bow to him if there was any beauty recognition held, _her thoughts pondered.

"Would you try and explain your lateness?"

Damon Salvatore was glaring down at her with his ice blue orbs as he questioned her, the look that he was giving her would've made the toughest of men squirm. But all Elena did was blush deeper right in front of his very eyes. She dropped her gaze once or twice beaming happily, then stared right back at him and spoke sweetly, "Hello Damon."

This behavior wasn't new to Damon; in fact he was very much aware that Miss Gilbert, his multimillionaire boss' daughter was more than smitten by him. He never took it seriously though because he thought of it as her teenage obsession, but what did affect him was that it was his _boss'_ daughter. He was assigned to protect her with his life, given the fact that he was her bodyguard. His loyalty and determination didn't permit him to even think about being in such a position, a position in which a princess was infatuated by the castles loyal servant. It was highly inappropriate and above all never in a million years would he fall for _someone_ like her! Saying that the kid was annoying would be the understatement of the millennium; sometimes she was so infuriating that he regretted ever taking this job despite the high payment he got for it. Spending nearly twenty hours every day with someone as immature as her was proving to be more and more difficult by the day. Her infatuation with him was driving him crazy. It was purely stupid. _Can't the kid just get the hint that he really wasn't interested._

Rolling his eyes Damon came out of his thoughts and glared harder at her this time, "Answer me Miss Gilbert, why are you late, _again_?" Elena flushed harder which caused Damon to raise an eyebrow. "Um... Well you see I just finished breakfast. And…" Elena paused. "And what Miss Gilbert?" asked Damon. "And have I ever mentioned that you look so cute when you're angry!" She replied enthusiastically. He mentally face-palmed and merely resisted strangling her. Taking a deep breath, he rolled his eyes and glared at her a little more. He moved forward, grabbed her hand roughly and dragged her towards the limousine. "Come on lets go, or you'll be late for school as well." Walking briskly he turned his face to look at her and instantly regretted grabbing her hand.

She was staring at their intertwined fingers dreamily and was thinking how perfectly they fit together. He released it immediately and her smile fell. He opened the car's door for her and motioned for her to get in, she did and he followed right behind her. He closed the door and the car started moving.

They sat at opposite ends of the same seat, but that didn't stop Elena from staring right at Damon. As her gaze traveled across him she took in everything about him, he looked dashing and deadly at the same time in his dark suite, even the way he sat was so professional so soldier like. His posture held grace and elegance, Elena wondered what transformed him into something so unrealistic, she had seen men all her life but no one could ever be like this one, so unique so perfect. Sighing she continued devouring him with her eyes.

Whereas _Damon_ on the other side was glaring right out the window, completely aware of the fact that Miss Gilbert was eating him visually. He ignored it, _he was used to it by now, maybe? I mean he's been enduring this since six months now, right?…that's it!_ Damon turned his face towards Elena slowly, who as expected was staring right back at him and in the coldest voice he could muster he said, "Miss Gilbert….

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><p><strong>Dun dun dun to be continued!<strong>

**See I promised Damon and there he was! Want more? then all you have to do is review.**


	3. Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett

**Hey everyone! Thanks to those who reviewed, put alerts, and added this story to their favorite list. Here's chapter three so enjoy!**

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><p>"Miss Gilbert it would be a little <em>less<em> annoying, if you would stare at something that is NOT me." Elena blinked, a thing she did when she was confused which wasn't unusual around Damon, "But Damon I like staring at you and you know that," Elena said sadly. It broke her heart every time he behaved that way, and that was almost every time they interacted. That man was so insensitive that most of the times she believed that he wasn't even a human, and it was hurtful.

"Yes I know that. But I also know that you know, that I think that you're extremely annoying, childish and immature." Damon's tone was clipped and the glare he sent towards Elena didn't help her either. She quickly looked away to hide the hurt in her eyes. It were times like these when Elena wanted to do nothing more but run away from him, the times when he shattered her heart into a million pieces. Elena blinked back a few tears and glanced at him, "I'm sorry for annoying you Damon and I hope that you're not angry with me," she said with so much innocence that it could have melted anything, anything but Damon. He was staring out the window again, then he turned towards her with stone cold eyes, "I hope the apology sinks in this time." He eyed her a minute longer after that he switched back to his previous position, muttering something about stupid kids. _Kids, _the word caught Elena's attention.

"Damon I'm not a kid, I'm a girl, a young woman to be precise." She frowned. Even without sparing a glance Damon responded, "You're seventeen Miss Gilbert, therefore a kid". Elena huffed but replied, "Well whatever it is, I'm not much younger than you!"

"Oh you are very young." He replied while not liking where this was going.

"What, I'm only like four years younger than you."

"Four and a half to be precise and five if you round it off."

"We are not rounding anything off! And besides it seems so cute that way," Elena giggled. Damon stared at her as if she had grown a second head; she simply smiled and continued her rant, "See a guy should be older, stronger and authoritative; whereas the girl should be naive, fragile and dependent for a relationship to be romantic…" Damon cut her halfway through sentence not being able to take anymore of it, "Quit ranting Miss Gilbert and try to focus on your day ahead at school."

"Sure as long as you'll be there." She smiled and batted her eyelashes at him. Damon rolled his eyes and growled, "Oh you know I'll be there, _unfortunately._"

After several rants and about a hundred eye rolls later, they reached Mystic falls High; your typical high school where life followed all stereotypes. They got out of the car and it drove away. Damon's job at the school was to stand guard outside Elena's classes with a gun at the ready. Yes a gun, that was currently hidden underneath his suit along with God knows what? It was a mystery how he hid so much ammunition under his perfectly fitted suit without making them apparent. Perhaps it was another attribute he acquired somewhere along the way.

As they started walking towards the school building, Elena gave Damon a sweet smile, grabbed his arm and started searching for her friends with her eyes. Damon didn't try to extract his arm because he knew it would be futile. Believe it he had gone through this a thousand times, he would pull his arm out of her grip and she would grab it again. This would usually go on till they reached their designated destination.

They entered the corridors and that was when they encountered Damon's worst nightmares, namely Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett. They were harmless of course, being teenage girls and all. But for Damon they were a set of sissy nuisances. As if on her own Elena wasn't enough already, nature had to add two of her best friends to the equation. Wherever Elena went he went, _they_ went, he had to endure them every time they were together, _and God that was frustrating!_

Damon observed Elena greeting her 'besties' as she referred to them, and they started chatting hurriedly. He found it really surprising, how women could talk so much in short spans. A high pitched voice brought Damon back from his dazed state. "Hello Damon!" Caroline screamed and winked at him. _Ah Caroline Forbes another one of the many from Elena's school who had a crush on 'The Hot Bodyguard', seriously now that was getting weird and old,_ Damon thought. To him Caroline was yet another average teen, annoying to the extent of madness, but bearable on his good days of endurance and not to mention that the girl had a good heart.

Whereas her other counterpart who was currently scrutinizing him with her judgy little eyes like usual, was a complete nuisance. In Damon's eyes Bonnie Bennett had some serious trust issues, and also the habit of sticking her nose where it didn't belong. She looked at him as if she was aware of all his ill intentions and his deeply hidden dark secrets; that actually didn't exist. It was funny really they were only a fragment of the Bennett girl's far-fetched imagination. Often he had overheard her telling Elena things like, "You might need protection _even_ from him because I don't trust him…" or better yet, "he might be conspiring to kidnap you one day and ask for ransom …" and he won't even go to what she thought about Elena's infatuation with him, even there _he_ was the bad guy. Whatever she said it sounded like a load of rubbish to him. He knew for a fact that he would give his life but never betray his employer, Mr. Gilbert trusted him with his most precious treasure, and he would never break that trust. His loyalty and sincerity were his pride and his pride ruled his life.

Coming out of his thoughts again, he did what he usually did, pretended that Miss Bennett wasn't even present. He inclined his head slightly towards Caroline and greeted her, "Good morning Miss Forbes," Then he turned towards Elena checked his watch and said, "Your class starts in five minutes, I believe we should proceed towards it now."

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><p><strong>To be continued<strong>

**Don't forget to put a review!**


	4. Stefan and Kathrine Pierce

**Hello everyone. Okay I have to say this; the last chapter was a disappointment I only got 3 reviews. So it would be awesome if I got more this time. Anyway thanks to those who reviewed. Enjoy the chapter!**

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><p>Elena entered the class and took a seat. Caroline and Bonnie followed suit then sat at either side of her. The bell rang and Mr. Saltzman, their history teacher entered the room passing Damon at the door. He greeted the class and began his lesson.<p>

Elena took out her notebook and tried to concentrate, but gave up after a few minutes and began writing Damon's name repeatedly in her notebook. History was never her favorite subject and besides her mind was elsewhere, yup right outside the class room. That was when she felt a paper ball thrown at her, without even turning around she knew who it would be _Stefan_.

Stefan, the jerky football hero had a crush on Elena since God knows how long, and he never missed a chance to try his luck with her. Whereas she on the other hand wasn't interested in him at all, he was a jerk along with his annoying group of friends.

As the second paper ball made contact with her back she turned around with a glare. If looks could kill Stefan would be dead by now. "What?" she mouthed angrily. He simply shrugged and indicated towards the paper lying next to her, "Read it." her mouthed back. Reluctantly she garbed it off the floor and read, "Wanna go out with me tonight, just you and me no bodyguard allowed!" She turned around slowly, stared coldly at him and tore the paper and threw the pieces at him, showering him with the bits.

As she turned back towards the front she heard sniggers, most probably Klaus and Tyler; part of Stefan's jerk clan laughing at their friend on the embarrassing rejection. A satisfied smile spread across Elena's face, _serves him right._

The excruciatingly long day of school went on until it was 3:00 pm and then it was time for cheer practice. Elena was the head cheerleader, and it had nothing to do with being ultra rich, she was pretty good at it and that was putting it mildly. Caroline was on the team with her as well. Elena loved cheer-leading and it also had its benefits in Elena's perspective; Damon would tend to her whenever she would get hurt, and she thought that was amazing. Even though it was just a part of his job, it was still all the same to her like actual caring. But there were a few things Elena wished weren't the way they were. Like Katharine Pierce; the slut bitch and her Evil minions being on the team. That bitch had an eye for _her_ Damon, _HER DAMON! The audacity of that woman!_

Elena exited her last class and found Damon patiently waiting for her right outside of it. She linked her arm with his and dragged him towards the girls changing room. As they reached it she stopped and turned towards him, "I'll be back in a minute." She smiled at him and he nodded in response.

Elena went inside and got changed into one of her numerous practice out fits. Today she was going with a short black shorts and a fitted black shirt that defined each and every perfect curve of her body. As she noticed herself in the changing room mirror, all she thought was about Damon admiring her. She strongly believed that she was made only for Damon and whatever she was or had was restricted for the rest of the world, the girl's beliefs were akin to fairy tale romances; even in this time period. But it was her bad luck; she made hundreds of heads turn but she couldn't grab the attention of the one she was aiming for.

Elena sighed sadly at the mirror and turned to leave. She got out of the changing room with a feeble attempt at a _seductive_ smile. Damon glanced at her, and then started walking. _HE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT ME A SECOND TIME!,_ Elena huffed in aggression and followed quickly behind. Upon hearing the loud huff Damon smirked, knowing full well not getting the desired reaction had made her angry, _Serves her right for annoying the hell out of me._

They reached the football field where a set of girls was already gathered. Katherine was in the center, with her minions Rebecca, Vicky, Andie and Rose surrounding her. Caroline was standing with the rest of the squad Anna, Lexi and Danna waiting for Elena. As Damon and Elena stepped on the field the 'bitch squad' turned their attention towards them. With a slutty grin plastered across her face, Katharine proceeded towards them," Hello Damon." she said in her confident manner. If there was anything that angered Elena more than Katherine herself it was her behavior towards Damon, the way she stared hungrily at him as if she was gonna eat him alive made her blood boil._Come on how could she do that! Damon was hers and nobody, nobody was allowed to even dream about him in that way; especially not Katharine._

So before Damon could respond Elena intervened "Hello _Katharine._" she said through clenched teeth and put her arm around his waist, as if to say 'back off'. The gesture didn't go unnoticed by Katherine, however she ignored it and continued as if Elena wasn't even there. "How are you doing, Damon?"

Damon, who was currently staring at Elena's arm around him,and was thinking about the stupidest situation one could get involved in; which was exactly what he was going through now. Being the infatuation of two teenagers; both who were at opposite extremes in nature, one was his boss's daughter and the other was a complete...vamp, for a lack of a better word. However both were complete nuisances. He never wanted to be in such a position, it was humiliating and frustrating. Fate wasn't on his side even in this aspect. He extracted Elena's arm from his waist and looked straight in Katharine's eyes. Wanting to get out of this situation quickly so that he could go and stand at his usual waiting spot, he gave her a half smile and said politely," I'm fine Miss Katherine."

And that was all it took for Elena's fragile heart to break. She stared at Damon in shock and started thinking, _he acted differently with her, he prefers Katherine. _Tears streaked her cheeks, she couldn't control them and they kept on coming. On hearing a sob Damon and Katherine turned towards her. Seeing her tearful face Damon realized instantly what had happened to her.

Elena knew it was childish but she couldn't help it. Feeling immensely humiliated Elena did the only thing she could, she ran. In turn she left an awestruck Damon and Katharine with a smirk across her face, behind.

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED…<strong>

**That was it for today, and don't forget to leave a review!**


	5. Annoying, frustrating and infuriating

**Oh my God, you guys have no idea how happy you've made me with all those reviews. I can't thank you guys enough for that! So I'll just try thanking you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU my lovely readers!**

**One of you said that Elena was acting childish. Well I meant for her to act that way, she's hypersensitive about Damon and she's in love with him plus she's only 17.**

**Okay now onto the story. **

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><p>It took Damon a moment to register what had actually happened. He had made Miss Gilbert cry…unintentionally. He knew what had exactly happened; after all it happened right before his very eyes. She was hurt due to the fact that he had <em>just<em> responded to Katherine.

He swallowed all of this in and took a deep breath, Katharine was chattering away about something at his side but he wasn't paying any attention to her. No, he was too busy concealing his anger and thinking about the current situation.

_'That little fool'_, he thought as he started walking towards the direction Elena had gone. _'__How could someone be so stupid and sensitive',_ he increased his pace as he caught a glimpse of Elena's back entering the school's corridor through the back door. He fell into a full sprint after that and almost caught her, _almost_ that is if it weren't for the empty classroom's door that was now separating the two of them.

"Miss Gilbert, open the door this instant!" Damon ordered harshly.

As expected there was no response from the other side of the door.

"Miss Gilbert you know I don't do patience on stupid matters, so you might as well open the door before I break it down!" He growled.

On the other side of the door Elena's sobs became frantic after she heard his harsh words; each word that he spat broke her a little more. And she knew his threats weren't empty, he always did what he said; he _would_ break the door down. That would leave her even more humiliated than now. She couldn't face him like this, not right now. _'__God what might he be thinking about her',_With that a thousand other thoughts ran through her mind.

"Miss Gilbert…" she heard him growl again, "You leave me with no choice then, now at the count of three, I'll break the door," after hearing him say that Elena panicked

_'Oh god he's gonna break the door'_, "One!"

_'I wish the earth would swallow me',_ "Two!"

_'GOD! I think, I should just come clean, yeah that's it!'_ Damon positioned himself in a kicking stance to break the door down, this was the easy part for him, but the difficult part was; dealing with the girl on the other side of the door. He stretched his left leg back to the fullest, bent his right leg which was placed forward, and just as he raised his leg and spun it around with force, he heard a weak sound calling his name. "Damon…" His foot paused midair, he realized it was only a hair's breadth away from coming in contact with the door.

He sighed and replied, "Yes miss Gilbert?" After a moments pause which; was excruciatingly long she responded in a barely audible whisper, "I'm embarrassed."

"I know." Damon responded in his matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't wanna come out." as she said that another stream of tears followed.

Damon could hear the hurt and humiliation in her words, but he only blamed her for it. If she didn't act the way she had in the first place; she wouldn't be in this position.

"You know you can't stay in there forever because _I_ won't let you, you know that." His voice almost sounded bored now.

"I know," she whimpered.

"Then why don't you be a nice little girl and come out." His anger was now barely concealed and he had spoken in a manner one speaks to a toddler in.

Silence followed Damon's last statement, and then he heard a click. The door opened and Elena came out. She stood right in front of him and stared him dead in the eye. "Stop. Treating. Me. Like. A. Kid!" She pronounced each and every word individually through clenched teeth. The irritation in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Damon even if her big brown orbs were lined with tears.

In return Damon stared at her coldly and yelled, "Then stop acting like one! You miss Gilbert, claim again and again that you're not a kid, but you know what I think? I think differently… I think that your nothing but a rich brat who only cares about herself and what she wants and the instant you're shown reality, you can't cope with it and then you go on and do the only things you can do, you go whine, cry or hide or do all three. You're annoying, frustrating and infuriating. And it's my bad luck that I have to spend almost twenty four hours, everyday with you!"

His sudden outburst startled Elena but the anger and seriousness in his eyes scared her to the core. She didn't know how to reply to whatever he said, she knew he was right about everything, she did act childish, and she was hypersensitive, mostly towards matters concerning him. She tried to muster a reply, she wanted to defend herself; she especially didn't want him to see her in such a bad light. But she couldn't even utter a single word, not when he was scrutinizing her with an angry glare. It was terrifying.

What was even more terrifying, was when he turned around and started walking away towards the exit. It was so unlike him or his duty to leave her like that; especially like that in the middle of the school corridor. In a broken and strangled voice Elena asked, "Where you going?"

Damon stopped in his tracks and replied in a hard voice, "To set up a meeting with your father." Hearing this caused Elena's breath to hitch in her throat and she started trembling.

"Why?" she whispered with a dread coated voice.

Damon turned around casually, "I think it's high time your father looks for another bodyguard to protect his daughter."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

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><p><strong>Didn't expect that now did ya? Anyways if you make me super happy with the reviews like the last time, I might drop the next chapter tomorrow! So don't forget to review guys.<strong>


	6. I'm begging you

**Hey guys I'm happy but not as much as the last time. Anyways I would specifically like to thank niadk and lina89 who have been reviewing each and every chapter of mine; you guys have no idea how happy you make me every time I see a review from you, so please keep on reviewing! And thanks to all the rest who reviewed my last chapter. The number of Reviews is not what makes me happy; it's the reactions I generate from you guys, that's what makes me bounce off of my chair!**

**Okay now onto the story….**

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><p>"I think it's high time your father looks for another bodyguard to protect his daughter." As soon as those words came out of Damon's mouth, Elena's world came crashing down. She couldn't believe it, that he had actually said that. '<em>How could he say that? He was supposed to stay with her forever, to protect her. Wasn't that the contract he signed!'<em>

Nothing was making sense to Elena; all she could think about was him leaving her. '_How was she supposed to live without him? Wasn't it clear enough that she was in love with him?'_ Her eyes blurred with tears but she could make out the movement in front of her, it snapped her out of her thoughts.

She whipped her tears quickly with the back of her hand; now she could clearly see Damon moving away. She hurriedly crossed the distance between them and grabbed his hand, causing him to stop in his tracks. "Let go of my hand Miss Gilbert." Damon said firmly.

"No Damon I wont, you can't just leave like this, leave _me_ like this!" Damon turned to face her and stared at her. "No Miss Gilbert you have to let go, because I cant take this any longer, I can't cope with you anymore."

"Damon, please." Elena stuttered.

"Please what! Please what, Miss Gilbert? Tell me!" Damon yelled, he was getting more annoyed by the minute because he didn't know how to handle the situation he was in right now. He meant what he said, his threat wasn't empty; he was going to leave.

"Damon I'm sorry for making you angry and I'm sorry for annoying you every single time I say something, but please understand I never mean to do it. I would never want you to be angry with me." It was a hopeless attempt and she knew it.

"You don't want to, you don't mean to, but you _still_ do and I can't endure this any more." He responded seriously.

"No Damon you don't get it, I cant control my emotions around you. Every time I look at you I feel like making you happy, I want you to smile for me, I want you to _like_ me," as she said that her voice broke, but she continued nonetheless, "but it always turns out to be the opposite, Its always unintentional whatever happens!"

Damon stared at her with an empty expression. She took a deep breath; then she continued, "I'm just asking for another chance Damon, just don't leave me. I'll try to be better for you, I'll try to do whatever you ask me to, I promise I will, but please don't leave me- "

"Miss Gilbert–" Damon tried to speak but she cut him off. "No Damon, first listen to me, one way or another everyone I care for; leaves me. I don't want to add another name to that list, why is it always me Damon? I m asking you why am I so unlikeable? Maybe you can stay to help me redeem myself, if not for anything else." By this point Elena's face was flooded with tears. Damon on the other hand was staring straight at her; she looked so broken the usual spark in her eyes brought by her innocence was gone now, _he_ did this to her, he knew it. He didn't feel any hurt for her though, no, not in the least but he did feel something and it was strong, it was _pity_.

"Damon I know that you want to leave because you can't stand me anymore and you would easily get another job. And I also know that I give the impression of a girl who has everything, but I don't have everything! I'm well aware that my feelings for you mean nothing to you, but please you have to believe it when I say this," she paused and took another deep breath then said," The feelings I have for you is _all_ I have, it's the only thing real in my life… so I'm begging you, don't leave me."

It was then that Damon's last resolve broke. The kid only annoyed him normally, even he didn't want her to stoop this low to beg from him. He was insensitive as it was proven time and time again; the insensitive person that he was, was how his former life had formulated him. But even he wasn't so cruel at heart that he would let a girl weep in front of him if he could prevent it somehow. He stared at the floor for a second than glanced at Elena. She was covering her face; probably to hide her tears and humiliation.

Damon moved closer to her and reached in his inner jacket pocket and took out a clean napkin. He cleared his throat and said in a low, firm voice, "Miss Gilbert, you better take this." Her sobbing stopped instantly as she realized he was standing right in front of her, she slowly peeked over her fingers and stared at him with her bloodshot but still beautiful eyes. He raised the napkin higher, so that it would be in her line of vision. Elena extended her hand slowly in fear, as if any quick movement would make him runaway. She took the napkin and their fingers barely grazed each others. She hurriedly moved her hand from there so that he wouldn't interpret the move as intentional.

Elena cleaned her face and muttered a thank you. Damon only nodded and she tried to avoid eye contact with him. In the last few moments a lot of things had been said and done, which shouldn't have been thrown out there like they were. After a minute, that actually felt like an hour; Damon checked his watch and said, "Let's go home Miss Gilbert, it's probably too late to head back to cheer practice-"

"You're not leaving!" Elena asked in astonishment.

Damon simply stared at her and said, "No, I'm not leaving Miss Gilbert" he sighed and continued "let's go home."

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED …<strong>

**Now if you want more tomorrow, then all you have to do is...well you know what you have to do. So bye now!**


	7. I promise

**Hello everyone I'm sorry for the lateness, but can I say that I was busy and be excused, because that really is the truth. Anyway enjoy the chapter it's longer.**

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><p>It had been a week since Damon had threatened Elena about leaving his job. That dreadful day had a huge impact on her fragile heart; the thought of him leaving her scared her immensely, because she couldn't imagine a life without him. The unexpected conversation which she had with Damon the same day, had broken a part of her slightly. All she wanted to do now was to forget what he actually thought about her.<p>

'Annoying, Infuriating and frustrating' he had called her. His hurtful words kept on ringing through her mind. Ever since then she had cried herself to bed, in hope that the next day when she wakes up things would be better. But it never worked it still hurt like before.

Sighing Elena sat on her bedroom's window seat and stared outside. The view in front of her was breathtaking; her room's window which was the part of the main front building showed the center garden of the Gilbert mansion and the gigantic swimming pool and beyond that, there was a separate building lining the other end of the mansion. That building contained all the quarters, gym and private theater.

Elena's eyes were fixed on a certain room's window; Damon's window. She sighed for the hundredth time that day and wished that he would show her one little glimpse of himself. But it didn't happen, so she gave up. She turned towards her desk and started writing in her diary. Unsurprisingly the center piece of her entry was Damon.

The clock ticked on and time flew away unnoticed by her as she was so engrossed in her diary. It wasn't until someone interrupted her writing by banging on her door roughly and repeatedly that she put her diary down.

Her father was out of town so she couldn't understand who else besides him would knock so rudely. She slowly started heading towards the door when she heard her most favorite voice say frantically, "Miss Gilbert open the door and get out immediately!"

His words and tone caused her to reach the door instantly. She opened the door and was about to ask him what was wrong, when instead he pulled her roughly out of the room and dragged her away at an unmatched pace. Startled Elena could only do one thing at that time; she tried to keep up with him.

As they reached the other end of the corridor, Damon shoved her inside a small storeroom and then went inside as well closing the door in the process. As Elena looked around the small constricted place she tried to catch her breath. Trying to make sense of the situation, Elena looked at Damon who was checking his gun for bullets and closing it.

"Damon, what's happening?" Elena asked in a shaky voice. Without glancing up, Damon answered, "Elijah's men are here to take you." realization started to dawn upon Elena and she understood the seriousness of the situation.

Elijah was the local mob leader, whose crime history was undoubtedly the worst ever heard. His name alone was enough to frighten his opposition and victims. There were many stories about him but they all lead to the same thing, that he was a ruthless man, the kind of man whose greed would lead him to do anything. He always got what he wanted by any means possible. Right now he wanted Grayson Gilbert's money through his precious daughter; it was a known fact because he had tried to kidnap Elena once before, but it turned out to be a failure all because of a certain bodyguard that proved his worth that day.

But that didn't excuse Elena from being scared; even the thought of such a horrible criminal taking her away from her life, frightened her.

Looking up and staring at Elena's horrified face Damon said, "Don't worry Miss Gilbert, nobody's taking you away from this house," he took a pause and continued "at least not when I'm around." The conviction that spilled from his words caused Elena to step out of her fear for a moment. She stared in his eyes and frantically searched for signs of genuine concern. But after a moment she realized it was only his duty and determination speaking, not him.

Sighing she looked down and stared at her feet, "So here's what I want you to do Miss Gilbert," his voice brought her eyes back to him "I'm going downstairs to join the rest of the security to take Elijah's men down, meanwhile I don't want you moving from here! Is that clear; no matter what happens don't get out of this place, unless I tell you to do so okay-"

"What? Damon, you can't just go out there" all of a sudden Elena's fears were forgotten the instant Damon mentioned he'll be out there, in danger. Now her instincts took over and she did whatever she felt was right. She grabbed his arm as tightly as she could and looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Miss Gilbert, let go of my arm." Damon said calmly.

"I can't! You'll go out there and it's dangerous-"

"Miss Gilbert it's my job, that's what I signed for, I didn't signup for hiding." This time his temper rose slightly as he spoke through clenched teeth.

Elena let go of him immediately as she realized that she was starting to annoy him now. She had told herself repeatedly that she would try her hardest to make him change his opinions about her. No matter what level she had to go to, she would do it.

He turned around swiftly and grabbed the knob to head out but stopped and turned around to glare at Elena, "Miss Gilbert-," he began but stopped when he saw tears silently leaving her eyes. He sighed heavily and his face softened slightly as he asked her, "Now what's wrong?"

"Damon you do realize that this could be the last time I see you." Elena said quietly

Damon stared at her for a minute before saying, "It's a possibility, but don't worry nothing's happening to you, you'll be okay-"

"Don't you get it Damon, I'm not talking about me. I'm talking about you, about _us_?"

Damon opened his mouth to say something but finding nothing appropriate made him close it again. Elena moved closer to him causing him to bend his face down and reached her hand out and placed it hesitantly on his cheek. She caressed it softly and stared in his eyes lovingly. "I don't want you to go Damon, but I can't stop you because I know you won't stop no matter what happens, but if this really is the last time," her voice hitched but she proceeded "We…we see each other, then I want it to be better than you leaving angry." Elena had moved closer with every word she spoke, causing their faces to be so close that they could feel each others breath on them. "I'm not gonna ask you much Damon, I just, I just want a promise, a promise that you'll come back to me." Elena said pleadingly.

Damon simply stared at her and a slight frown covered his forehead as he responded, "You know I might not come back, and you also know I don't make promises that I'm not sure I can keep."

"I know, that's why I'm asking you a favor, to just say it; It'll give me hope."

"Hope?"

"Hope." She nodded, "Hope, that I might see you again."

Damon closed his eyes and once he opened them, he stared back into the eyes of an innocent girl; he could also see the depth and purity of her soul. He could see the affection that she held for him and it was the first time he realized; what she had for him was not a young girl's infatuation but a woman's true love.

The impact of the realization caused him to step backward as if on reflex, he didn't know how to react to this but he knew that time was ticking away and he had to be somewhere else. And the fact that Miss Gilbert had an unrecognizable effect on him this time, wasn't helping either. But one more look at those brown eyes and he realized that at least he owed her this much. "I promise Miss Gilbert, I'll try to come back." Elena looked at him shocked, not believing that he actually gave her what she wanted. She smiled happily at him and moved closer. She stood on her tiptoes and…..

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><p><strong>TO BE CONTINUED<strong>

**Oh and I'm not updating the next chapter unless I get some reviews so don't forget to review!**


	8. Com on suga

**Thanks to M, bethany, Marina164509 and Barbara SGB for reviewing my last chapter. Okay now on to the next one!**

**Oh and I'm gonna say it again, I don't own the Vampire diaries, If I did then everybody would have chosen Damon! I'm seriously confused, what do people see in Stefan; I mean Damon's way better than Stefan in every possible aspect! Ugh! Okay now let's get on track!**

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><p>She smiled happily at him and moved closer then she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek softly. She lingered there a bit longer and then stepped away. Realizing that it was the first time she had kissed him made her blush deeply. She glanced at Damon and saw a blank expression on his face; he blinked once and took a step backwards. As he turned around, he just repeated one thing, "Don't come out of this place, Miss Gilbert." With that, he left her alone in that dark storeroom.<p>

As Damon closed the room's door behind him, he instantly touched his cheek where Elena had kissed. He felt awkward and yet didn't know what to feel about that small innocent gesture. He shook his head and reminded himself that there was something much more important going on within the premises of the Gilbert residence. So without any hesitation Damon ran down the stairs, towards the front of the mansion where a possible bloodshed was taking place.

Elena sank down the wall and sat on the floor. She couldn't believe what she did today; she _kissed_ him, although it was just a kiss on the cheek it still meant a lot to her. She sighed, closed her eyes and waited for Damon to return back to her unharmed.

Elena sat quietly in the dark storeroom for several minutes but it felt like hours had gone by. The only sounds that could be heard were distant gunshots. Every time she heard a bullet fire she flinched, imagining the dreadful thing reaching its target. And every single time her imagination forced her to believe _Damon_ was the target. She tried to get those images out of her mind but it didn't work.

She had no clue what was happening outside her current location and because of that she felt hopeless. She wanted Damon back; she couldn't take his absence any longer. She hated the fact that he was risking his life just to save hers. And not just he, the entire security that was appointed for the Gilbert household was risking itself for her safety. She understood that it was their job, but even then she felt miserable and pathetic. She couldn't be the cause of so many deaths and she knew how Elijah played, last time's failure may have forced him to double the reinforcements. There was no chance things would turnout to be the way they should.

Thinking all this she stood up from her spot and faced the door, '_and worst of all if anyhow she does get out of this situation, what would be the point of life if Damon wouldn't be there anymore.'_ she convinced herself. And with that she made up her mind. She didn't care anymore; she was going to give herself up. Just so she could spare her Damon's life.

She was about to grab the door's knob, when the door itself suddenly burst open; revealing a man standing opposite her with a gun pointed directly towards her head. He was tall and broad and had rough stubble. His height and appearance intimidated Elena instantly and when he opened his mouth to speak, his ugly teeth made their appearance, "Com on suga', I'm here to take ya." His rough and illiterate accent sent shivers down Elena's spine. The man's demeanor alone made it quite apparent that he had done nothing in his life but committed innumerable crimes. And the way he was staring hungrily at her fragile body made it obvious that he comprised of a dirty mind as well.

Instinctively Elena stepped backwards, she wanted to run away from him but unfortunately she was trapped. She didn't even want to be in the presence of such a man who was probably twice her age but had horrible intentions in store for her. Her heartbeat became faster and dread covered her. She knew he was here to kidnap her but she would be a fool if she believed he wouldn't take advantage of the situation.

As expected he inched closer, licked his lips and said, "You're one pretty doll, suga', saw ya in the pics but I have to say the real thang looks much more delicious, might as well taste ya a little before we go." The instant those words left his lips a thousand thoughts ran through Elena's mind and she felt horrified. She had never been touched and she never imagined being a victim to such unfortunate circumstance. Even the mere thought of the man's hands on any part of her body disgusted her. She wanted to die that instant, but it was her bad luck that she couldn't even do that. Panic struck her so she started crying and as he moved closer she shrieked at him, "Don't touch me!" Taking that as a challenge, he raised his bushy eyebrows while responding, "I don't think so sweetcake, I'm gonna have my fun while I can." With that he moved even closer and reached his hand forward. Elena did the only thing she could do, she closed her eyes tightly and leaned against the wall to create as much distance in between them as she could. Dread filled her and her tears increased as she waited for the inevitable.

Surprisingly, what she expected; never came. Instead of being touched anywhere by the filth in front of her, Elena heard him scream in agony and it was followed by a deep growl. She instantly opened her eyes eager to see what was happening.

The sight in front of her shook her even more. Damon was there and he was locked in a one on one combat with the perverted man that stood just before her a few seconds ago. From the looks of it the fight was hugely in Damon's favor.

Amidst all the action Damon discarded his gun, which he held in his hand before. Now anger driven, he was using the man as a punching bag. To say that Damon was livid would be an understatement, also he had no clue why he felt the way he did. He just knew, if the situation was different and the guy was only holding Miss Gilbert at gun point he would have simply shot him. '_But no, this sick bastard had gone too far, he wanted to touch Miss Gilbert; she's just an innocent girl!' _Damon's thoughts were raging, at that moment he believed the skum deserved all the pain he could get and he intended to give it to the asshole himself. Damon kept on punching him and repeatedly kicked the man as hard as he could, he unleashed his fury and invested it in his combative movements. He didn't know why all of a sudden such anger consumed him. Then images of Elena's horrified expression a few moments ago flashed through his mind, and that forced him to break several other bones in the man's body. All that he felt at his pain was; satisfaction, pure unrestrained satisfaction and it grew every time he heard a new bone snap.

Elena stood there awestruck. She had never seen Damon this angry, the expression on his face was inexplicable as if he would kill anyone if they came in his way. Then she looked down at the man, who was still being severely punished by her savior. The guy was overall covered in blood and Elena realized he had been punished more than deserved. She took a deep breath and wiped her left over tears. She moved behind Damon and called his name softly, "Damon...

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><p><strong>So want more? Then all you have to do is review!<strong>


	9. Oh my God!

**Hello people, here's the next chapter!**

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><p>"Damon," Elena repeated once more softly, but he still didn't listen. Then she placed her small hand on his back hesitantly and rubbed it soothingly. "Damon I think you should stop." Damon turned around swiftly at her soft voice. He couldn't believe it that she was actually asking him to stop punishing a guy who could have ruined her life. He stared at her flabbergasted then blinked a few times. Her forgiving behavior made him even angrier, and he started bashing the man again.<p>

Seeing what Damon continued, Elena abruptly stepped away and covered her eyes. She couldn't take the scene in front of her anymore, blood and violence scared her and experiencing it in reality; was much worse than expected. She turned around and covered her ears to block the sounds of hits, it felt horrible. Each time she heard a hit she cringed and unbeknownst to her, tears started leaking through her eyes and her sobs got louder.

She never imagined _her_ Damon to be this way, to be this barbaric. It was as if he was a whole different person, one she could never recognize. And she hated to admit it, but this person scared her.

Not even daring to look back she mumbled helplessly, "Damon please stop…" It didn't make a difference because all she heard were more hits. Elena fell on her knees and continued crying, all the while mumbling the same thing repeatedly, "Stop it Damon, please stop….

Damon could see from his peripheral vision the state Elena was in. He knew it was because of him, he also knew he was scaring her but he didn't care, all he wanted was to teach the asshole a lesson before his inevitable death.

Elena kept on crying until she heard something snap loudly. Stunned; she turned around in time to see the lifeless body of the man, slowly slipping out of Damon's hand and falling to the ground. She got stuck there, she couldn't believe her eyes. She slightly raised her head and stared at Damon, he was glaring at the body as if he wanted to bring him back to life and beat him to death again.

Elena was baffled by his behavior. Not only did Damon beat him to a pulp, he killed him as well by his bare hands; the last snap that was heard, was that of his neck. It was unbelievable. With shaking legs Elena stood up and moved towards Damon. She stopped a few steps away from him and whispered, "H-how could you do that Damon?"

Damon looked up simply and stared her straight in the eyes, "He deserved it."

Elena shook her head and said, "Nobody deserves such treatment, Damon and you know it, even then you acted like a monster and-"

Damon cut her short and roared, "I can't believe that you're actually saying that! Miss Gilbert, are you out of your mind! Don't you know what could have happened!"

"Could have happened Damon, but it didn't!" Elena shrieked back.

"It was only a matter of minutes." Damon said through clenched teeth and moved towards her.

Elena glared at him, probably for the first time ever, "Then you could have simply-"

"Simply what! Let him go? Or beat him up and then let him go? Huh? Tell me Elena, would that have been right if I would have let him go and he would have tried this on any other helpless girl!"

Listening to his outburst Elena gasped which caused Damon to stare at her sternly, "What happened now?" Damon questioned.

"You…you," Elena stuttered.

"I what?"

"You said my name." Elena said in astonishment and then she shrieked all of a sudden as she noticed something else for the first time, "Oh my God Damon, your arm is bleeding!"

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><p><strong>To be continued<strong>


	10. I need you

**I'm extremely sorry for the lateness of this update, but I can explain myself. The instant I updated my last chapter I was called and told that my grandmother was seriously ill and hospitalized, so I had to leave every thing and get to another town immediately. I returned and had to take care of what I left behind, university stuff. My semester's wrapping up so I'm immensely busy. But soon I'll be free and updates would be quicker. I'm just taking out my time and updating this so that my readers won't hate me any more then they already do. Once again I apologize for the delay, hopefully my apology is accepted.**

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><p>"You said my name." Elena said in astonishment and then she shrieked all of a sudden as she noticed something else for the first time, "Oh my God Damon, your arm is bleeding!"<p>

At this point Damon could care less about his arm, he knew it was hurt; the pain was reminding him constantly about it, but he didn't care. What did matter at that moment, was the fact that Miss Gilbert was right, which was on rare occasions. He _did_ take her name. It was just a flow of the moment, a part of their quarrel and it felt normal to say it. The earth didn't shatter beneath his feet or the sky didn't crumble above his head, like he feared it would if he ever dared to let it slide off of his tongue.

Still it didn't mean that he was now allowed to overstep the forbidden boundary. And he was thankful that currently Elena's attention was directed somewhere else, far from that stupid mistake.

Coming back from his thoughts he realized She was looking at his face with barely controlled tears , _'God that girl had cried a lot that day' _and from the looks of it she was probably waiting for an answer. He opened his mouth to ask her what he most certainly missed while he was dealing with his thoughts, but Elena beat him to it and repeated her question.

"Damon, would you please tell me how did this happen?" Elena asked shakily while indicating towards his wound.

I wasn't a simple wound exactly; it was more like a deep gash, the kind when a massive amount of flesh is chucked out. Damon took a look at it, that's when he saw how bad it actually was. But it didn't bother him, he had taken injuries far worse than this in his short life. Damon bent down and tore the sleeve of the shirt the man lying at his feet was wearing. He simply shrugged his shoulders at Elena and nonchalantly responded, "Probably got daggered by the last bastard, I encountered on the stares; before I saw this one running towards this floor". During his explanation he wrapped the sleeve around his arm as a makeshift bandage, not even flinching once. Not stating that he didn't feel pain, cause he did feel it. He was a human after all; but his ability to endure it was far stronger then the average man, his tough past itself had forged him in to the man that currently existed.

Hearing what he had told her made Elena gasp loudly, "Last one…Damon what exactly happened?" She demanded.

"Nothing worth repeating." He replied simply.

"Damon people broke into my house, they tried to kidnap me, One almost managed to…to get to me, I need to know you have to tell me this much." Elena pleaded.

_'She wanted to know, something that should be kept away from her fragile self',_ Damon thought. Frowning, he slowly stepped closer to her. "No Miss Gilbert. You don't have to know, its better this way, you've already been through enough today."

Sighing with defeat Elena stared at the floor. Looking at the broken expression on her face made him rethink his previous statement and he realized he owed her at least an explanation of what went down for her. "It seemed Miss Gilbert, that Elijah went overboard this time; he sent twenty-five men to get you, and twenty-two of them went down along with five of ours. The rest of the three are kept for interrogation. As expected Elijah would be furious, due to another failed attempt and especially cause this one might have cost him quite a bit. Your father has been informed and undoubtedly the security around you would be tightened."

The unexpected information shook Elena; she couldn't believe what she heard. The fact that there were bodies probably lining every part of the mansion terrified her even more. So many men died because of her, Damon could have been one of them. Fear gripped her further and tears left her eyes freely. She felt the need to be closer to him. She wished with all her heart that he would simply take her in his arms on his own and comfort her.

Damon could easily make out what was going through her, after all it was visibly apparent. The girl in front of him was completely frightened, she needed comfort and assurance, especially from him; yes he figured it out. '_But he couldn't do it…could he? Would it be inappropriate? Given the situation it didn't feel inappropriate... No! Why the hell was he even thinking that!'_ Damon reprimanded himself and shook his head, _'it wasn't his position he was just her bodyguard, he wasn't assigned to comfort fragile girls, especially who had feelings for him.'_

"Miss Gilbert," After his long internal debate, Damon stepped forward and grabbed her arm gently, "I think it would be better if I take you to your room." After saying that, he pulled her towards her room's direction.

Elena nodded lightly and moved along with him, the thought of her room provided some comfort. Also, the fact that he was touching her was having a calming effect on her.

They reached her room and Damon opened the door for her, he entered alongside her and turned on the lights. Damon always found Miss Gilbert's room _interesting_. He could swear that he had never seen so much pink in one place at one time.

He quickly scanned the room with his eyes to make sure that they were the only ones there, then he went to check the bathroom. When he came back he found Elena silently sitting on the bed, he walked towards her and said, "It would be better, if you don't come out of your room for a day at max. The staff's probably gonna need the time to clean up the mansion. Whatever you need would be provided here." Damon paused for her to say something but she didn't, she simply nodded.

"Is there something you need right now?" he asked her and waited for her response this time. A moment later she nodded.

"What?" He hesitantly questioned, somewhat aware of the possibility that whatever she would need would include him somehow. And right he was. She stood up the next moment, decreasing the distance between them to mere inches, "Yes" she said softly and fearfully, "Damon I…I…need something, I need you tonight…."

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><p><strong>To be continued<strong>


	11. Slumber party!

**HELLOOOOO PEOPLE! I'm back with another update…..**

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><p>"Yes" she said softly and fearfully, "Damon I…I…need something, I need you tonight…."<p>

The instant those words hit Damon's ears, his jaw dropped and he stood there staring at her. The girl's expression was broken and he also knew that the intention behind those poorly placed words was innocent. But still, it wasn't right…

"Damon, are you listening?" Elena expressed, her voice was a little louder this time and she touched his arm. He looked at her small fragile hand that was softly placed on his bicep, he saw it pleading to him in its own way. Damon turned his head towards her and stared her straight in the eyes. The warm chocolate there was melting something inside him.

"Damon please, I'm scared and I can't sleep alone tonight…"

_'Again with the words, come on kid if it were somebody else they'd perceive it differently!',_ But listening to that weak sound for the umpteenth time that day; broke something within him a little more. He no longer felt the need to tell her off.

"Damon I'm really, really scared…" '_That's it',_ Damon mumbled to himself and moved one step backwards, causing Elena's expression to fall a little more. Instantly regretting the move Damon reached forward with one hand and grabbed her shoulder gently.

"It's fine Miss Gilbert, I'll stay the night." he affirmed. "But I have to take care of a few things first, Okay?" He waited for her response, who in turn nodded hurriedly.

As Damon released her shoulder he realized his hand felt empty and cold, he stared at it for a moment and then at Elena. Confused he quickly shook the sensation away and started heading towards the door. Just as he stepped outside the room he heard her say, "Come quickly please."

"I'll try." He responded without looking back.

The walk all the way to his quarters was the longest of his life. The feel of her skin under his hand kept on repeating in his head uncontrollably. He mentally pondered and tried convincing himself, that there was no way it felt nice to touch her soft delicate skin. _'No way in hell._' He also told himself that it did not feel good to offer what little comfort he could. _'Not possible, he was never meant for these things.' _His self induced argument was carried all the way to his suite, which was inconveniently a very long walk away.

After changing into fresh new cloths, Damon grabbed the first aid box and went to the sink. While tending to his wound he realized what he had gotten himself into. As if the girl wasn't enough during the day time hours, he had to agree to a night duty as well. "Life would have been much better if he were a watchman." he drawled sarcastically.

Elena had changed into her nightwear during Damon's absence. The day's trauma had such an impact on her, that she didn't even completely took the fact in; that Damon was spending the night with her.

As she sat there in front of her dressing mirror, the reality struck her slowly. Her brushing hand stopped halfway through her beautiful locks and she stared at her reflection in astonishment.

"Dear God, Damon's sleeping with me tonight.", she uttered to herself and then blushed deeply as she realized the implication behind her words. She quickly brushed her hair and gave herself one look. She was glad that unconsciously she had selected one of her most appealing nightwear. Caroline had often told her that amongst her numerous night suits, the pjs she was currently wearing was the prettiest.

Overall satisfied she went to sit on her bed to wait for Damon, and she felt nervous. '_It wasn't like they were gonna do anything.'_ She thought. _'It's just him spending the night here, that's all',_ "No biggie." she whispered. '_For the first time ever' _her mind told her, "Lot of things happen for the first time." she contradicted herself loudly, once more.

"Damon." she said his name to feel it on her tongue once, it was a week attempt to make herself feel a little less nervous about the situation. But all it did was, make it even worse. "Oh my God! It's Damon I'm talking about!" she gasped.

That instant somebody filled the room's door frame. She raised her head to see and there stood Damon looking as handsome as ever in his comfortable pajama pants and a dark shirt; only waiting to be called in. Not to forget the fact that he looked absolutely ready for bed; no correction, he looked absolutely ready for their "slumber party", as Elena would like to call it.

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><p><strong>To be continued..<strong>


	12. Means a lot

**WOAH! People, A LOT happened! First of all, I have to have my fan girl moment; DELENA KISSED! YEAH! Then she told Stefan about the kiss and that she wasn't guilty that it happened! OMG MY DELENA HEART IS MELTING!**

**Okay now that I had my moment, lets move on to apologies. I haven't forgotten this story and I'm sorry that I kept you waiting, it's just that I didn't have a choice. Went out of town again for grandmother duty, and I had no access to internet there. I came back a couple of days ago, and seriously I just left everything because I was dying to see the new episodes so instead of writing I did just that. Anyways, I won't make you guys wait any longer. I just hope that my awesome readers are still with me! ... now enough of everything else lets get back to the story!**

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><p>That instant somebody filled the door frame. She raised her head to see, and there stood Damon looking as handsome as ever in his comfortable pajama pants and a dark shirt; only waiting to be called in. Not to forget the fact that he looked absolutely ready for bed; no correction, he looked absolutely ready for their "slumber party", as Elena would like to call it.<p>

Elena slowly stood up and stared at him.

And he stared back.

She slowly moved her fingers through her hair, _'God, she was so nervous'_.

Damon stared at her a bit longer and shifted his feet; this was awkward for him, _'He couldn't just invite himself in her room, now could he. She had to do it.'_ He cleared his throat and looked around the wide length of her room.

Instantly realizing what was wrong with the situation Elena spoke up," Damon come on in." _'God she could be so stupid sometimes.'_ She thought to herself as Damon stepped inside and murmured a thank you.

And again a heavy uncomfortable silence fell upon them, this time much more apparent because they were standing only a few feet away from each other.

"Damon," Elena started feebly, "You have no idea how grateful l am that you're here tonight." When she ended the sentence she stared at her feet, feeling almost embarrassed for that fact that she had to ask him something so personal.

"No problem Miss Gilbert," Damon replied in his usual stoic manner. "It's a part of my duty to look out for you in every way." However Inside he knew it was a lie. Providing comfort on such a personal level, _wasn't_ a part of his job, in fact it was borderline inappropriate.

His statement brought Elena's head up. For a second she wanted to believe that he was doing something for her because _she_ had asked him to do it, and not because it fell under his duty.

Slowly she nodded her head. Before she could have the chance to say anything else and make things even more awkward, as Damon knew where this was going; the obvious fact that, where Damon's going spend the night in her room kept on emerging within their thoughts. Damon took the matter in his own hands and pointed towards her room's couch in the opposite direction of the bed, "I'll spend the night there, if you don't mind, Miss Gilbert." After regarding that he moved towards the pink piece of fluff and sat down.

Elena kept on staring at him, silently and adoringly. He looked so cute, sitting there on her furry pink loveseat in his jet black clad body. She sat down on her bed facing him. She tried to hold her smile, but after a minute she failed miserably and a small laugh escaped her lips.

Damon who was already feeling unusually conscious, perhaps it had something to do with the obnoxious couch he was sitting on and Miss Gilbert's unmistakably loving gaze his way, hurriedly asked, "What?"

That beautiful, panicked voice amazed Elena, because in that moment he sounded just like every other twenty-one year old, who didn't act like that the entire world's responsibility was handed over to him, he sounded like a normal boy who cares if a girl laughs at him.

Seeing emotion on his face made Elena laugh even more. He was blushing and frowning at the same time. Clearly not liking what was happening.

"Miss Gilbert," Damon cleared his throat in an attempt to keep the emotion out of his voice. The previous unexpected slip of expressions on his face just a moment ago was enough for today. "May I know precisely, as to why it is that you're laughing, and hysterically at that?" His question ended up coming through his teeth.

Managing through a fit of laughter she said, "Oh, oh Damon! I-its n-nothing."

In response Damon shifted uncomfortably and said, "Well apparently it is. And if it has anything to do with me sitting on your ugly couch, then it's not really my fault that each and every part of your room is covered in pink."

"Aww Damon, but you look so cute sitting there!" Elena cooed.

"For heaven's sake." the boy muttered, loud enough that it reached Elena's ears.

"I really think you're adorable like that." Elena smiled shyly. Damon raised an eyebrow at her but the expression on her face made him drop it. She was staring at him as if he was all she ever wanted, which probably he was. His expression softened and he ran a hand through his dark locks. The girl was practically like a princess, she could have anything she wanted; she was rich, had a good heart and don't think that he was blind; he noticed every day that she was purely beautiful. The mere fact that he wasn't able to decipher why she wanted _him_ and him only, confused him. _'Okay fine, he could make out that she liked him, no correction; she _loved_ him, but the question was: Why?'_

Suddenly his expression turned stern and so did his voice, "I think it's time for you to sleep Miss Gilbert, it's been a long day." Elena mock frowned and pouted slightly because she knew it was the end of their conversation.

She sighed and went to her walk-in closet. Meanwhile Damon was taking his shoes off. A minute later she came out of it holding a pink blanket, she moved towards the head of her bed and grabbed a pillow from there and went over to Damon. He looked up from his crouched position on the couch as he was putting his shoes aside and saw Elena right in front of him.

Elena smiled at him sweetly and nodded towards the things in her hands, "I thought you might need these for the night." Damon took them from her hands, which made their hands brush each other and their eyes met in contact. Damon couldn't believe it, that for a second he felt like holding her hand right there. He always knew that the girl in front of him wasn't selfish, even though he had accused her of being; he knew he had called her that, only out of anger.

But this sweet little gesture showed him how much she cared. _'And only God knows why the hell he was feeling good about it.'_

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert."

"Oh you don't have to thank me Damon; I should be the one thanking you. After all you're doing this for me, in the first place." Elena smiled at him one last time and went over to her bed and climbed in. All the while thinking, _'How the hell was she suppose to sleep, while her prince charming was only a few feet away from her, she could stare at him all night.'_

"Aren't you gonna turn the lights off Miss Gilbert?"

'_Oh shit.'_ Elena realized in all her confusion she had forgotten the lights, she switched them off and turned in Damon's direction who was still sitting straight as before or that's what she could make out of his silhouette in the moonlight. "Sorry, slipped my mind." She replied and bit her lip. She crawled in her bed again, laid down and took a deep breath.

"Damon?"

"Yes, Miss Gilbert?" Damon drawled.

"Thank you for being here, it means a lot to me."

Damon didn't say anything at first, but a few seconds later he replied slowly, but firmly, "Your welcome, Miss Gilbert."

His melodic voice was the last thing she heard before somehow sleep took over.

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><p><strong>There you go people longest chapter yet, so now all you have to do is review so that I'll be happy enough to write an even longer chapter!<strong>


	13. Oh I won't be going alone Damon

**Sorry for the delay guys… okay no more talk just story, and sorry…..**

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><p>Elena sighed as she stared at the alarm clock for the hundredth time that day. It read 7:30 AM and she glared at the clock accusingly as if it was it's fault not to wake her up earlier, while Damon must have still been in her room.<p>

She sighed once more and looked at the couch that was occupied by him the previous night. Of course, what did she expect him to do? Wait for her until she woke up, most certainly not. Still it was wishful thinking on her part. She knew him and she also knew that he might have left her room, the instant first rays of sun hit the window that morning.

Then again, what he did for her last night was more than she expected. She knew he said it was a part of his job, but even then it touched her heart like everything else he did.

Slowly Elena moved off of her bed and went to shower. After half an hour all dressed up and ready, she went over to her couch and picked up the pillow that Damon had used the night before. Bringing it closer to her face she inhaled a deep breath in hopes of taking in his scent. As expected, indeed it was there, his intoxicating refreshing smell, the same one that surrounded his beautiful dark locks.

Smiling happily she hugged the pillow to herself and took it over to the bed and replaced it with the one currently placed on her usual sleeping side.

After a short while there was a knock on the door to which she curiously answered, "Who is it?" In response a female's soft voice replied, "It's me, ma'am Cindy with your breakfast, may I come in?" Elena went over to the door and opened it for her to enter; Cindy placed the food trolley next to the bed and left.

It wasn't until then that she realized how hungry she was. Yesterday had been crazy so food had obviously been neglected. As she sat eating she wondered if Damon had eaten anything. His day was tougher than hers and he had also gotten hurt. _'Oh god he hurt his arm!'_ in all the commotion yesterday she had forgotten about that as well. Silently she prayed that he was fine by now.

Few minutes later Elena called the maid to take away the food trolley. She ate quicker than usual as she was in a hurry to find out what Damon was up to by stalking him through her own window. She went over and opened it completely. As she was trying to get the best possible view of his window she heard another knock on her door, this one far more aggressive than the one before. Swiftly she turned around and headed towards the door, opening it and seeing Damon's face on the other side made her smile instantly, but the person whom he was holding firmly with one of his hands made it drop immediately.

"Stefan! What are you doing here?"

"Elena, would you please ask lover boy here to release my poor arm?" The instant those words left Stefan's mouth, Damon's grip tightened on his arm which made him yelp.

"Damon, please let go of his arm." Elena ordered halfheartedly. After a moment's hesitation Damon did as he was told. "Okay, now Damon, tell me why were you holding him in the first place?"

The man in question narrowed his eyes and looked directly at her. "Miss Gilbert the boy kept on insisting to see you. I told him repeatedly that it's not possible and nearly threw him out the gates, I only decided to bring him here when he said something about 'important school stuff.''

Elena stared at Stefan and giggled, "Really Stefan is that true? Did big bad Damon almost throw you out of the gates?"

"Yes he did Elena; you know you should really teach your servants some manners." Stefan growled and glared at Damon.

Affected, Damon simply glared back. But the next instant Elena jumped in to defend him which was hardly a surprise for him. "Damon is not my servant!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. The anger that lit her eyes at that accusation made Stefan step backwards slightly. He slowly raised his arms in surrender but Elena wasn't done yet.

"How dare you say that Stefan! Who the hell are _you_ to say that? Damon's only here to protect me and he's amazing at his job. He's probably paid ten times more per month than your father's annual income!" Elena didn't care that if Stefan was hurt because of her rudeness. The only thing that mattered to her was, that _her_ Damon was probably hurt, to ensure that, she turned around and searched his eyes. Surprisingly he was staring back at her with something close to gratitude. Elena smiled at him in reassurance and in return the corners of his mouth turned upwards by a minuscule.

Their small moment didn't go unnoticed by Stefan and he cleared his throat angrily. "Well whatever," he began uncomfortably. "Why I came here in the first place was, because, I wanted to tell you that the school's annual field trip is next week and it'll last a week, camping and all, so I wanted _you_ to hang out with _me _there. Like just the _two of us" _He commanded and emphasized his point.

"Is that the reason you're here Stefan?" Questioned Elena.

"Yes"

"Do you have any idea, what I went through during the last 24 hours?"

"So it really happened, the attack on your house?" he asked cautiously

"Yes it did, what did you think it was a rumor?" She rolled her eyes not surprised by Stefan's behavior, she knew him well, and she knew he was a fake like all others around her, except for Damon of course. Stefan was all talk and selfish and his faux pretense infuriated her every time it reared it's ugly head. Maybe that was the reason why she couldn't stand him.

"Well, yeah." Stefan replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His response caused Elena to glare at him furiously.

"Just leave Stefan" She demanded in an annoyed tone.

"But Elena..." Stefan started to protest.

Damon moved from his spot as if any further protests from Stefan would result in violence. But Elena stepped forward so that she could deal with him instead.

"No Stefan, you don't get to say anything. Just get the hell out of here, oh and in case you're wondering, I _am_ going to the trip and I'll be in the company of people whom I want to be with." The instant she let those words out she stepped closer to Damon, and her hand itched to hold his.

Stefan noticed their proximity and sneered, "You're pathetic Elena."

Damon moved his arm backwards to punch Stefan with all his might but Elena saw that coming so she quickly grabbed it and said, "It's okay Damon, let it go he's not even worth it."

Glaring Stefan turned around and as his back was retreating he said, "This isn't over yet. Remember that _Delena_."

Even though the last word held immense amount of despise to it when Stefan uttered it just before disappearing around the corner of the room, Elena couldn't help but feel something perfect about it. That simple word made a small smile cover her lips even despite her bad mood.

Remembering why she was in a that mood in the first place she immediately turned around and faced Damon who was still scowling at the empty doorway.

"Damon," she said hesitantly and raised her hand towards his cheek, she stroked it once, then she turned his face towards herself slowly. His scowl still hadn't disappeared but he looked her intently in the eyes.

"I don't like that kid, and not only because he's insolent but because… I don't know, there's something not right about him," Damon raised his finger sternly and continued, "_You_ should keep away from him Miss Gilbert, I might not be with you always to keep watch."

Elena smiled and grabbed his hand with both of hers, "Oh but you always are with me Damon, and I'm grateful for that."

Hearing this Damon's eyes landed on their hands and he couldn't help but notice the perfection that surrounded them, it was as if their hands were a part of the same puzzle. Just for confirming his assumption, he closed his larger hand around one of her small ones. The sensation that filled him was inexplicable and he couldn't tear his eyes away from their intertwined hands. Astonishment took over Elena and her eyes simply followed what her hand felt. Damon was covering her hand with his, she never thought he would touch her like that.

Not wanting to let go or even acknowledge what he was doing, Damon kept his eyes downcast and started speaking softly, "Your father called, I talked to him. He said he's gonna return tomorrow evening. He wanted me to let you know."

All the while he spoke Elena's eyes moved from his hand to his face repeatedly, she couldn't believe what he was doing, but she was fully aware that she wanted to store this moment to her memory, so she kept on moving her eyes back and forth in an attempt to capture even the minutest details of the beautiful moment.

"He'll be expecting you at home when he arrives" Damon slowly raised his eyes and stared at hers. Slowly a small frown appeared on Elena's forehead as she replied yo his statement, "He could've called me and told himself and not just that Damon he should've called me to make sure if I _was_ alright." the hurt that she felt was quite apparent because it was etched in every word that she spoke.

He saw how in a matter of milliseconds her expression had changed from blissful to grief. By looking at the sorrow in her beautiful eyes, he felt a pang in his chest, he wanted her laughing eyes back, the ones which sparkled with happiness almost every time he was around.

Slowly and hesitantly he started stroking her fingers with his thumb; making her eyes loose the grief that they held and replaced it with wonder.

Smiling softly he assured her, "He cares about you, you know that right?"

"Does he?"

"He does."

"It's hard to believe" Elena sighed. "Anyway it's good that he's coming back, it'll be easier asking him permission that way."

"Permission, what for?"

"For the field trip of course, Damon" She grinned.

"You wanna go? I'm doubtful that your father's gonna allow you, I mean considering the recent events."

"Oh I won't be going alone Damon." Elena smiled at him.

"Oh I know that Miss Gilbert," he narrowed his eyes, "It was only wishful thinking on my part that you might not go", Sighing deeply he frowned at her '_which would've saved me from a horrible experience of being amongst terrible teenagers for an entire week, somewhere faraway stranded in a forest.' _Partly aware of his internal debate, Elena simply smiled at him as the anxiousness for the trip started brewing within her.

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><p><strong>Okay guys see I wrote a long chapter so now how about some reviews, and I'm sorry again for the delay people forgive me!<strong>


	14. We'll bump into each other again

**I am extremely sorry for the delay guys, I'm extremely ashamed of myself; the only thing I can currently do is apologize.**

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><p>Ever since Stefan had told Elena about the school camping trip, it was the only thing she could think of. Certain things kept on repeating through her mind like being in the company of her friends during the road trip and mostly spending her entire week in a forest faraway with Damon.<p>

Elena's father had returned the previous day and surprisingly permitted her for the trip. So currently she couldn't help but smile in front of the mirror of a shop's dressing room, as she tried another dress from her selected pile.

After giving herself one last look, satisfied she headed outside where Damon was standing in the waiting area. This was part of their routine, every time Elena went shopping Damon stayed in the waiting area while she put on all the dresses she selected turn by turn and modeled them in front of him.

"How about this one Damon." Elena asked a totally uninterested Damon, who looked as if he'd want to be anywhere but a shopping mall. As Elena twirled in front of him, he robotically nodded his head. "Absolutely perfect Miss Gilbert, now if you're done then can we please go." the guy's voice sounded almost pleading.

Elena stared at him for a moment, then as if all of a sudden she shamefully realized what she put him through every time she went shopping, "I'm extremely sorry Damon, I know it's hard for you to tolerate all this, but there's no way around it, you're suppose to be with me, and while shopping I can't help it, I just get carried away…," Damon simply cut her halfway through her rambling by placing his hands on her shoulders.

"It's alright Miss Gilbert, I get it, but once in a while you have to realize that I'm a guy and sometimes I need a break from such things." He tried saying that without being expressive but failed miserably, and internally he was having a debate with himself about even mentioning his displeasure to Elena, it was a part of his job he had to do it without any objection. Discarding all thoughts aside immediately, he just realized that he wanted to do nothing more than to escape this stupid place.

Suddenly Elena's face lit up with an idea, "Damon how about this, why don't you go and take a walk around the mall, buy anything you want, it's on daddy, and then meet me an hour later in front of the lobby."

Damon quietly stared at her for a moment as if she had gone insane, "You know Miss Gilbert I can't do that, it's my job not to leave you alone even for a second, I hardly do that while we're at home. How can you expect me to just do that while we're in a mall?" He gave her a fake smile as if showing his annoyance towards the obviousness of the situation.

"Come on Damon." Elena huffed, "It's not as if the world's gonna get off its axis, if you just take five minutes off for yourself."

"The answer is still the same Miss Gilbert; I'm not leaving you alone."

Elena raised a sleek eyebrow and stared hard at him, "Of course Damon, how can you leave me here all by myself? You care too much, you can't imagine the thought of leaving me alone for even a second, because you think something's gonna go wrong. Like something bad is gonna happen to me in your absence, right?"

Each and every word she spoke was full of sarcasm and something else, something else that Damon recognized really well. It was Miss Gilbert's wishful thinking. Or better yet, it was her trying to make him feel something he would never feel.

By looking at Damon's angry expression a small smile escaped Elena's lips, "You just can't bear the thought of me getting hurt, can you?"

Elena pouted prettily for a minute then sighed in disappointment after getting no response, "Oh come on Damon can't you just say that it would matter to you if I do get hurt. You have no idea how happy it will make me."

At first he simply glared at her, because somehow that felt true, he couldn't bear the thought of her getting hurt. She was someone innocent and if any such circumstance did arise of her getting hurt, then it would only be a result of her being Grysion Gilbert's daughter. She'll only get caught in-between the crossfire created by her father and his enemies, if ever. _'But was that it, or did it have something to do with it being _her... _What the hell are you thinking Salvatore? Snap out of it!'_.

Damon gritted his teeth cause his thoughts had momentarily confused him, he raised his finger at Elena and replied, "You know full well that it's a part of my duty not to leave you, so you might as well leave this argument and get done with what it was that you were doing."

"Why are you so angry Damon?" She asked worriedly and moved forward to touch his face.

In response Damon side stepped her and shouted," I am not angry!" It caused Elena to take a step backwards. Instantly regretting his outburst, he moved forward and clasped his hands around her wrists to stop her from going any further.

Taking a few deep breaths he tried calming himself, he was angry with himself more than he was with Elena, he had a slight idea where his thought went off to, a few seconds ago. "Listen Miss Gilbert, I'm sorry about that…I…I guess you're right. I should take a break, think I'll get something to drink." With that Damon let go of her wrists and turned around.

Just as he crossed the threshold of the shop he said, "I'll see you in ten minutes, in the lobby."

Elena stared after him for a moment and sighed. _'Great! Gilbert you did it again, you managed to annoy him even more than he already was! Perfect.'_ Scolding herself, she gathered her stuff and headed towards the counter. After paying her bill she exited the shop and headed for the main lobby of the mall.

As she got of the escalator, that brought her to the ground floor she headed straight for the lobby. Turning around the corner of a long hallway deeply immersed in her thoughts, Elena collided with something that was inexplicable.

The impact of the contact was so great that Elena fell a few feet away from her previous position. She raised her head to see who it was that she had bumped in. And what she saw petrified her. There was a group of tall, broad angry looking men, all clad in dark suits, and they were staring at her as if she was a worthless piece of junk. Astonishingly they were also pointing guns at her, and it seemed as if they were waiting for an order to pull the triggers at once.

Elena's breath got caught in her throat and she froze. It was then she heard someone clearing their throat and saw a movement amidst the group of men. A man emerged at the front who was previously hidden behind the wall of all those angry men. He was different than the rest, for one he was older and held an authoritative air. He was wearing a perfectly fit gray suit and his entire presence spilled grace. Half of his light brown bangs fell into his dark brown eyes, eyes that sent a wave of shivers through her entire body. Gradually a frown covered his forehead, and his eyes widened slightly, the mere expression sent more shivers down Elena's spine. He bent and stretched his right hand forward and offered it to the girl, who coiled away from it on instinct. Her heart beat rapidly within her chest, she didn't know why it was doing that but something within her told her that she shouldn't be in their presence, and once again in peril her heart cried for Damon.

The rejection barely made a smile cross the man's face. As he straightened himself, one of the men standing behind him stepped towards him and began urgently, "Sir you do realize," but before he could complete his sentence the gray suited man cut him angrily , "I am very well aware of the current situation Jeremy, no need to outline things until necessary."

After responding to the man called Jeremy, the leader of the gang turned his attention towards Elena again. A smile crept up on his lips again as his eyes swept over her face once more. Elena could swear at the moment that she had never felt this vulnerable in her entire lifetime.

"Well Miss, it seems as if you are pretty content with your current position, as you've made quite obvious you don't need any assistance with getting up." The man said before directing his attention towards his group "Very well then, let's move men. I believe we had business to attend to before we got caught in this _fortunate_ incident"

All the men nodded in unison and started following their 'leader' in the direction they were headed before, but after a couple of steps the 'leader' stopped and addressed Elena once more "Oh and one thing more Miss, I am terribly sorry for the rude behavior shown by my men earlier, hopefully We'll bump into each other again, no pun intended of course." And with one last smile he left her trembling on the floor.

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><p><strong>So wanna guess who that was….<strong>

**I know most of you might be disappointed with this as you guys couldn't wait for the camping chapter, I'm sorry about that but in time you'll see that this was important. Anyway hopefully you'll forgive me for the delay and I'll try for it to not happen again.**


	15. If need be

**Whoa, it's been long…. The reason for me continuing this is some really amazing people, who actually read this crap. Once again I'm really sorry for being such a great disappointment. As for the reason for the lateness, well honestly I don't have any valid one. Hope you like this update.**

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><p>To say that Elena Gilbert was excited, would be the understatement of the century. After all she had waited for the camping trip along with Caroline and Bonnie since they were kids.<p>

Currently sitting in a school bus amongst a bunch of annoying, hyper, teenagers, Damon could only think of one thing, _'what on earth did I do to deserve this punishment'._ Turning his head to the left he took a look at Elena, she was seated happily in between him and the window.

She was staring enthusiastically outside the window, watching the trees pass by in a rush. Her behavior was always a pleasant reminder of her innocence; she was different than the rest, Damon craned his neck to have a look around the bus to make sure of that. Her sheltered life was what she was accustomed to and her pure, naive heart lead her to do whatever she did. '_The kid wasn't meant for this world',_ and oddly Damon felt the need not only to shelter her from the big bad world, but also to protect her from the harsh realities of it.

As if feeling his gaze on her, Elena immediately turned towards Damon and smiled that shy, sweet smile of hers.

"Everything alright Damon?"

"Everything's alright, Miss Gilbert." He replied.

Elena stared at the space between them, there wasn't any; his side was pressed against hers because of the uncomfortably small seats of the bus. This made her smile. The closest she was to him, the safest and comfortable she felt. It was an odd connection and she loved it.

She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a very annoyed Stefan, who oddly enough right now was seated on the other side of Damon, only the Isle was separating them. But the distance wasn't too much, Damon could easily punch him with his right hand if he wanted to.

"Elena I believe it was _clearly_ mentioned, that the school trip was specifically for the students." Stefan said while eyeing Damon.

Smiling mockingly Elena replied, "Well Stefan unlike _some people_ here, I wanted Damon to be with me and besides, my dad wouldn't have allowed me on this trip if Damon wasn't with me, not that I would have wanted to come if he weren't here." Sighing Stefan slumped in his seat causing Damon to smile unconsciously.

Elena too smiled at Stefan and faced Damon again. Once more she opened her mouth to say something and got interrupted again. Only this time it wasn't Stefan that interrupted her. There was a blast and the bus took a few bumps and slowly came to a halt. Terrified of the loud noise Elena hurriedly clutched Damon's arm and leaned against him. Damon calmly looked at all the panicked boys and girls faces, as he knew that they only probably had a flat tire.

"Oh my God, We're being attacked by aliens!" Stefan shouted.

"Oh, brother." Damon muttered as he rolled his eyes at Stefan's sudden outburst.

"Eh Stefan, that's stupid mate, everybody knows we're being attacked by Zombies instead." Klaus, "corrected" Stefan.

Damon groaned and nearly face palmed himself at their stupidity, that's when he noticed Elena frowning at the boys along with the rest of the bus. A soft chuckle escaped his lips and Elena instantly caught his eyes. To Elena's ears that was the most beautiful sound in the world, but for Damon it proved to be awkward. In order to hide the awkwardness, Damon hurriedly said, "Can't believe Miss Gilbert, kids these days can actually be this stupid."

Elena smiled and gave a nod. In all this commotion nobody had noticed that the driver had left and now reentered the bus. He cleared his throat to gain the crazy teens attention and said at the top of his voice, "Bad news we have a flat tire, so I want you all to step out of the bus till I change it. Now Out! Everyone."

There were a few groans and a few cheers, but everybody proceeded outside.

Mr. Saltzman was accompanying them, as an in charge, and before anybody got out, he informed everyone to not go any further than necessary and be inside the bus after the tire was done.

Since Damon and Elena were sitting at the backside, they were the last ones to get out. Elena looked at the area they were in and noticed that the forest was quiet thick. Reading her thoughts Damon said, "Don't worry Miss Gilbert, this part of America does not contain ferocious animals," then he smirked and continued, "Only wild bears, approximately six feet tall and purely carnivores."

Elena's eyes widened and she frantically looked around as if she would spot something. "Relax Miss Gilbert," Damon said soothingly and reached towards her hand, "I was only joking." after smiling reassuringly he let go of her hand because he saw Caroline and Bonnie approaching them.

Ever the over excited Caroline, she shrieked and hugged Elena from the back and said, "Isn't this wonderful 'Lena! You, me, Bon Bon and Damon and our entire class and Mr. Saltzman too, are out here! Far away from home for our amazing trip! I could just squeal all day!"

Damon shook his head at the girl's naivete and moved away to give them some 'girl time'. He went and stood on a rock nearby, so that they were out of his earshot but still he could keep an eye on Elena.

Bonnie Squinted at Damon for a second, then turned towards Elena and frowned, "Frankly Elena, there was no need for him to be here."

"Not again Bonnie, you know I can't go anywhere without him."

"You can't or you _don't_ want to" Bonnie emphasized."

"Probably both." Elena replied.

Sighing Bonnie said, "That's pathetic Elena, come on Care, Mr. Saltzman is calling back to the bus."

Elena gave Bonnie's retreating back a sad look. Then looked at Damon who was heading back towards her, it appeared that he too might have heard Mr. Saltzman call out to them. Seeing him walk over with his usual grace, in a pair of jeans and a leather jacket adorned over a black shirt, pulled at her heart strings once more. The sun reflecting off of his jacket gave him an ethereal glow, it almost made him appear like a dark angel. Intently staring at him till he reached her, her expression changed from a frown into a smile, as she felt it again within her, that It didn't matter what Bonnie thought, if the need would be, she'd happily give up the world for him.

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><p><strong>So another apology for the fact that the chapter is short; basically this chapter was a way for me to check if the story is still in demand and should I proceed further or not, In short your reviews would decide its fate. <strong>


	16. messed up her rational mind

It was an hour after reaching the camping sight when the students began setting their tents. Dusk was approaching that's why the students were told to hurry up with their tent settlements or else it would be a difficult task at hand.

Damon sat at the edge of a rock hopelessly, looking at Elena struggling with her tent. Mr. Saltzman had come up to them 15 minutes ago and especially told Damon not to help Elena, as it was an essential part of the camping trip for her to learn how to set up her tent by herself.

She tried setting it up one more time but failed again. She huffed and sat down on the ground next to it.

Damon looked around and noticed happily that not many kids were having any luck at it. _'Seriously did they teach anything in schools these days.'_ He thought. Suddenly an idea popped in his mind and he called out to Elena.

"Miss Gilbert, follow me step by step."

Realization dawned on Elena as she saw him standing next to his pile of tent equipment. He was gonna help her, without actually helping her! His setup was laid just two steps away from where Elena's tent's opening was going to be so that his opening and Elena's were facing each other and close enough for Damon to block her opening if necessary.

He started forming his tent step by step, giving Elena enough time after each step to let her follow his lead and finish what he did. If she made a mistake or got stuck at some point he repeated his actions, no matter how many retakes it took Elena to get it right.

Approximately after an hour's hard work Damon and Elena accomplished what they started.

"God I thought this would never end." Elena said as she sat down. Smiling Damon sat next to her and said, "So did I."

Elena looked around and then back at Damon. "So do you think this place is safe Damon?"

"What exactly do you have in mind Miss Gilbert?"

"I mean, is it really safe from supernatural creatures?"

Damon chuckled like the very few times that he did. "Don't tell me Miss Gilbert, that you actually believed Mr. Michelson's theory about the Zombies?"

Shaking her head she replied, "No Damon, what I meant was Ghosts and stuff you know."

"Seriously Miss Gilbert, now where did you get that idea from?"

"Just a thought Damon, just never mind. So tell me do you feel good to be here, with me?" As Elena said this she moved closer to him, who in turn moved slightly away to maintain the distance.

Noticing this Elena stopped moving. Getting up from his spot Damon indicated, "Miss Gilbert your class mates are approaching, you should spend some time with them."

Before Elena could object, Damon walked away from her and Stefan, Klaus, Caroline and Bonnie reached her. Elena sighed and smiled at them, "Well I believe you guys got done with your tents too."

"Yeah we did, these boys really helped." Caroline replied especially smiling at Klaus. Klaus in turn pretended that he didn't notice and all of a sudden got really interested in the ground.

Stefan took the opportunity of Damon not being around and slumped next to Elena. "So Elena wanna camp with me?" He grinned at her, "If you know what I mean?"

Elena awkwardly frowned at him and replied, "No I'm camping with Damon. If _you_ know what I mean." As if to emphasize her point, she pointed at her and Damon's tents.

"Oh come on Elena get over him, he doesn't even care about you, you're just his job, now me-

"Stefan I really don't care what you or he does or doesn't, but what I do care about is, is that you should keep your opinion to yourself."

"Don't bother Stefan, she's too far gone; it's impossible to reason with her, cause somehow that cunning manipulator has messed up her rational mind." Bonnie intervened scornfully.

"Bonnie! That's so mean, apologize to Elena!" Caroline screamed in Elena's defense.

Elena simply smiled and said, "It's alright Care, I've gotten used to her behavior by now. It doesn't even affect me like it did before."

"Come on guys what the hell is happening here! I never thought this would happen on our trip. Bonnie you need to apologize."

"Sorry Caroline I would have apologized if I were wrong." Bonnie responded and turned around abruptly to walk away. Caroline turned towards Stefan and said,"I think Stefan you should go to your tent too."

Stefan tried to protest but Caroline glared at him and he dragged Klaus along with him. Caroline started saying something to Elena but she smiled and said, "Its okay Care, I'll be fine you go get some rest." With that Caroline also went away, leaving Elena alone to think about the hurt that she really did feel at Bonnie's behavior. Honestly she couldn't comprehend what was wrong with her one time best friend.

She stood rooted to the spot for a moment and a few minutes later she felt _him_ behind her. A smile took over Elena's face replacing the sadness that was there moments ago.

"You're back, already? I thought you'd take your time?"

"Not really Miss Gilbert." Damon responded. "Just took a stroll around nearby."

"Hmm."

"Anything the matter Miss Gilbert," asked Damon in a rare protective tone, "Did you get hurt?" Elena's eyes widened at his question, and at that time she wanted to do nothing more than to jump in his arms and cry her heart out and tell him how hurt she had gotten, but instead she refrained herself from doing that. She knew that even if she mentions, what went down. he'd try to keep even more distance from her than he already did and she didn't want that.

She sighed and finally answered, "How can I be hurt Damon, when you're around."

"Good than Miss Gilbert. I think you should take rest now." And with that Damon moved closer to their tents and held Elena's flap door for her. Sighing she went inside her tent and noticed that Damon let her flap door close and most probably had his open, a form of her protection perhaps.

After settling inside her sleeping bag and before giving herself fully to the dream world, Elena let a few words escape her lips quietly, "How can I be hurt when your around Damon, at least not in the way that matters to you.."

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><p><strong>To be continued.<strong>


	17. lovesick idiot

**Well hello there, *hides behind the chair in order to avoid things being thrown at her and resumes talking from current hiding position* well let's keep this short and simple, because nothing that I'm gonna say is going to waver your anger in the slightest. So I'm just gonna say sorry; sorry for being an asshole and not returning quicker. I have nothing to say in my defense except the truth, that I sort of, got sidetracked, yeah I sort of got mentally occupied by some other stuff. In all honesty I wanted to write this story for you guys as fast as I could. But I just couldn't I wasn't able to get my writing pace back. For which I'm again sorry. **

**Now that I've annoyed you guys even further with my annoying speech, all I can say is; let's just get onto the story.**

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><p>A subtle breeze combed across the quiet forest, as the students of Mysticfalls High slumbered across the clearing that they set up their camps earlier on. The silence that consumed the area was welcomed by those who were deeply immersed within the dream world but only one, amongst all the other current residents of the place was unfortunate enough to comeback to consciousness at this late hour.<p>

Elena Gilbert lay still in her tent with wide open eyes, still trying to shake of the horrible nightmare that had been the cause of disturbing her from her slumber. Now, she could actually comprehend the fact that it was just a harmless dream; the scary flashes that she saw, containing ghosts and phantoms were just images created by her mind. Oh how she wished she hadn't heard her stupid classmates muttering something along the lines of, "supernatural entities exist in forests and stuff" now, she was facing the consequences of previously eavesdropping, as her imagination became overly active.

Groaning, Elena thought about the previous hours of darkness, of the same night. She vaguely remembered that when she had first fallen asleep, her tiredness had caught up to her, resulting in her immediately falling into the well invited dream world, but as the night stretched longer, she had woken up because of a dream, and it was difficult for her to fall back to sleep now. So She did the only thing she could; she laid wide awake in her tent, that had its flap still completely closed. It was awfully quiet outside, it felt as if she was alone for miles and miles. The breeze outside picked up a bit more and made eerie swishing sounds causing the frightened girl to cringe, not just from fear but also because of the abrupt drop in the temperature.

The ruffling of leaves that she could hear, made Elena's heartbeat to further accelerate. Her mind's rational part told her, it was nothing to worry about as the wind outside probably picked up the leaves and crashed them here and there, time to time. But the frightened part of her mind won over and now told her, that there was probably a serial killer wandering outside looking for their next prey. The girl had watched a lot of suspense thrillers to come up with the following theory, that the soft sounds of leaves coming from outside was caused by silent shuffling of unwanted feet. Elena wanted to scream, but of course she couldn't do that either, she'd wake the entire camp. As a last resort, her mind again went onto what she originally thought of doing since she first opened her eyes that night; Damon_,_ she wanted to be closer to Damon. And reaching out to him wasn't an easy task either, in order to do that, she'd have to step outside of her tent and only God knew if something was lurking outside or not.

If anyone ever questioned her on the matter, Elena would admit it without hesitation that she hardly had a brave bone in her body. But this night had made her go even beyond her limit, the reason being that the feeling had completely sunk in with her, that she was not in her secure home, but instead in a vast forest where the possibilities of bad occurrences was countless and that's what got to her, the fear of the _unknown_. Taking in a deep breath and collecting all her courage Elena told herself that this fear had to stop, and stop it she will. The only solution was to simply see it with her own eyes that Damon was in fact asleep in front of her tent's opening.

She took another deep breath and rolled on her stomach, shifting so that where before she was facing the roof of her tent, now she lay flat on her stomach. She then lifted her face a little so she could put her hands underneath her chin to support it and it was easier for her eyes to face the tent's opening. Slowly she reached her hand forward and grabbed the zipper of the of the flap, and very slowly and gently she unzipped it. Once she was halfway through the zipper she lifted the flap slightly and peeked outside. Unfortunately her vision got obscured by the fog that was lingering around. It was hard to make out anything beyond a few centimeters and it was no good, she had to open the entire flap, sighing she did just that. Goosebumps crawled across her skin as the full force of the cold night hit her, but on the bright side the movement in air caused by the flap blew the mist away from in front of her and her eyes adjusted to the moonlit night.

Then she smiled cause just in front of her tent's opening, was another opening that had its flap entirely open. The occupant of that little shelter had his face immersed in his soft pillow. His head's position suggested that he had his right ear deliberately positioned in a way, so that if need be, it would be easy for him to catch any unwanted sounds in his sleep. The man looked pretty comfortable and his evened breathing shown by the steady rise and fall of his wide back proved that he was in a deep sleep.

Due to his position, all Elena could see of his entire head was his hair and for a moment all she could do was just be mesmerized by his jet black strands. She couldn't express how beautiful his hair looked, the way the moonlight reflected off of those silky threads made her want to reach out to it and caress it. His head lay within a comfortable range for her to reach out, and she did just that.

She took advantage of the situation, took advantage of the fact that he was asleep. It was now that her fingers were just slightly hovering over his head and a moment of hesitation occurred, _'what if he wakes up?... No!'_ shaking her head she shook that thought away and reasoned with herself that she might not get this chance again and so she gently placed her fingers on top of his hair.

"Dear god!" a soft gasp escaped Elena's lips. His hair was softer than it appeared and it made her smile harder. Not removing her hand from his hair even for even a moment, she made herself lay down in a more comfortable position and she resumed caressing it. It felt wonderful, it was something so simple but so personal at the same time. It was a moment she was stealing, one that she would keep to herself as a beautiful secret. Just a few moments ago she wanted the night to end but now she felt like she never wanted to see the day ever if it meant she could live this moment the entire time.

**A Few Hours Later…..**

_'That man, dear god! Leave it to Alaric Saltzman, to do something as obnoxious as waking them all up at four o'clock in the morning!', _mentally Elena screamed to herself.

Not that she was actually up and ready as she should have been, considering that his last call on the loud speaker sounded somewhat next to a threat. Nope, she was far from it; she instead rolled on her stomach and laid there covering her head with her pillow in an attempt to block out Mr. Saltzman's constant shouts about how "they were far behind their schedule of activities" that he had planned for them.

Suddenly Elena sat upright as something struck her. She looked ahead and saw that she was sealed within her tent as its flap was once again completely zipped. A deep blush covered her pretty face as she realized what might have happened. She was pretty sure she had fallen asleep with..with… her hand in Damon's hair and he would have woken up and found her in that position, he might have extracted her hand from his head and put her arm within her tent with the rest of her body and zipped the flap like before!

"God this is beyond embarrassing!" Elena whined to herself. "He's probably thinking I'm some sort of a creep!" She mumbled as she hid her face behind her hands. Just as she was thinking about how she would pretend in front of Damon that she didn't do anything the previous night, she heard someone knocking on her tent's stretched material from the outside.

"Miss Gilbert?" Asked the voice she was dreading from the other side of her tent's thin material. It effectively froze her in her current position but somehow she managed two words for a response, "Yes Damon?" .

"Do you plan on coming out, _today_?" the man obviously unnoticed by the girl, rolled his eyes.

Slight shuffling was heard from Elena's side and after a few seconds the flap started opening. Damon stepped aside as he saw her stepping outside. Facing her awake for the first time that morning, brought back flashes to his mind. When he had first woken up with Elena's hand resting in his head and her asleep, he had been shocked, to say the least. He would be lying if he said he didn't expect anything like this from her, but even knowing this side of Miss Gilbert, the _daring_ side, couldn't have prepared him for what he had witnessed or more likely experienced that morning. While coming to consciousness that day, he had raised his head lightly because he'd felt extra weight on it; his initial thought was that maybe some forest creature had considered his head a comfortable sleeping spot. That would have unnerved a normal person, but not Damon Salvatore. However what he actually found, flustered him momentarily.

That was at that moment and now in the present, whilst he actually faced her, it was proving hard to control his expressions, because frankly speaking, he felt awkward. '_I mean what was that girl actually doing?' _

Thankfully Elena didn't stick around for too long; one thing that Damon had failed to notice at first was, her bag that she had brought out of the tent with her. She walked away towards the changing area where the bathrooms were located, that probably was the only facility the camp had on par with civilization.

Damon followed Elena with his eyes all the way to the bathrooms, he could make out through her posture that she was more than embarrassed, because she had her head lowered and eyes focused on the ground. Sighing, Damon also made his way halfway towards the bathrooms so that he would stay closer to her. What could he do, it was his duty, following her around everywhere. It made him seem like a lovesick idiot sometimes; sorry correction _all the times_. The thought itself made him groan, and he had yet an entire week to go through accompanying Miss Gilbert around during those "activities" that Saltzman oh so proudly stated during his announcements.

Being the patient soul that he was, he just quietly waited outside the bathroom/changing area, time to time ignoring the hungry stares that he was getting from the girls who were still around getting ready. Jesus one of said girls, had the audacity to grab his hand and tried dragging him to one of the empty changing rooms to take part in their own "activities" but Damon had gotten rid of her easily. All he had to do was glare at her, yes one of his deadly glares that roughly translated into 'not to mess with me', he usually reserved it for criminals and stuff, but it worked for the girl too. At least that'll keep her away for a… lifetime. Then finally after several minutes one of the bathroom's door clicked open and Elena stepped outside. She wore a baby blue, baby doll shirt that just reached low enough to cover her waist; if she stretched or bounced it would surly show some skin and she matched that shirt with short khaki shorts.

After the first glance Damon just wanted to stare at her longer. He could feel it inside, that he liked the site and when he'd have to look away it would be an unwilling act, and inevitably he'd have to look away sooner than what he'd like.

Elena made her way towards him, she didn't notice the unfamiliar way Damon was looking at her, because to her it was just another one of his many blank looks. She would have noticed something if she had stared into his eyes and spotted the minor glint, but right now she was also busy noticing what he was wearing. The Adonis in front of her, wore simple baggy black pants suitable for outdoor activities, a white body hugging wife beater and a simple black button down half sleeved shirt that had its buttons undone all the way. His attire was nothing special; he wore what boys normally wear during lazy days but he somehow even made those clothes look special. Elena sighed and went to stand right in front of him.

Damon looked at her face now, very well aware of what he consciously did just seconds ago. _'So what? I'm a guy and I just simply can't deny my eyes the pleasure if something beautiful presents itself before them, especially if there's no harm in it.'_

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><p><strong>Well that's it for now. Hope it made some of my returning readers happy (if there are any) cause this happens to be my longest chapter so far. Anyway on a side note I wanted to add more stuff to this chapter but I wasn't so sure about it cause you see even I have to go back a few chapters and read some of the details hehehe and I just couldn't do that at the moment, so they'll be a part of the next chapter. Hmm so next chapter? Let's just say I intend on returning really soon rest is all up to God.<strong>


	18. Here we go'

**Nope I ain't dead! And I am so ashamed that I cant even think of apologizing, so yeah lets just get on with the things that are important!**

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><p>Damon looked at her face now, very well aware of what he consciously did just seconds ago. <em>'So what? I'm a guy and I just simply can't deny my eyes the pleasure if something beautiful presents itself before them, especially if there's no harm in it.'<em>

They were standing so close together at that moment, that they could feel each others breath on their faces. The reason was clear why they stood so close; Elena loved invading Damon's personal space and he was just too stubborn to move away, _and_ stepping away would also mean backing down from a situation and _that_ most certainly wasn't in Damon Salvatore's book. You could also say that there were certain personality traits of Damon's that he was completely slave to, his ego has been a big dominating factor in his life, directing him to make all sort of choices that lead him so far.

Noticing their proximity a distant observer would defiantly assume that the two were possibly enthralled by each other, which in result possibly captivated them in their current position, but as a known fact, it was far from the truth; well at least not in Damon's case.

Liking the closeness Elena smiled widely and opened her mouth to say something, but she got interrupted as they heard a frantic Alaric shouting out to the students, that were apparently still not ready. Sighing she said, "I think we should head over to the front." Damon nodded and waited for Elena to pass by him so that he could follow her instead of leading. They made their way to the rest of the class that was gathered around Mr. Saltzman and were impatiently listening to whatever he was saying.

"Finally, is everyone here?" Alaric questioned. Almost everyone nodded or replied with a 'yes'. "Good." Waving the clipboard that he held in his hand he proceeded, "Now, you all can comprehend the fact that we're way behind the schedule!" Staring at all the unresponsive expressions on the students faces he continued in annoyance, "Urgh! Now without any further delay I must tell you about this week's activities. We've got six days ahead children, seven if you count today as well, so I've planned the tasks for the days as follows." After flipping a few pages of his clipboard he started reading from it, "Now, I want you all to split into pairs for the first task, yes I'll repeat myself, PAIRS! The list of students tells me that we've got twenty-four campers including me and Mr. Salvatore, so one of you will have to pair up with me, probably. So lets take a moment and choose a partner everyone."

"Hurry!"

After Mr. Saltzman's last shout, a lot of shuffling was heard along with a few quarrels here and there. Elena immediately turned towards Damon, who stood staring off into the space before him, he was already aware that fate had long since paired him up with Miss Gilbert for this day; so no point in turning around to confirm it. The unfortunate strings of his duty, had bound him to her, with tight knots no less.

Elena smiled at Damon's blank stare, she knew he only _appeared_ blank, in actuality this state of his meant that he was more than aware of his surroundings. He had a habit of doing this thing quite often and obviously Elena found it more then adorable; the girl's infatuation knew no bounds, she found everything the man did delightful.

"So have we all settled up on pairs?" No one paid the teacher any attention as squabbles were still going on. Clearing his throat repeatedly for a good measure, Mr. Saltzman once more shouted at the top of his lungs. "I said, are we settled in pairs?"

"Only Bonnie's left sir," Stefan squeaked immediately after the teacher's outburst.

After nodding his head at Bonnie and Stefan's direction in acknowledgment, Alaric turned towards Elena, "Elena, I was hoping you'd partner with Bonnie for this task, as you know this is a students only activity. I know due to your circumstances your bodyguard was allowed on the trip but it would be preferable if we don't stretch that too far."

The instant Alaric started talking, Damon came out of his 'blank mode' and stared intently at Elena, she blinked twice at her teacher, then contemplated how to respond to him. Damon stayed silent, but he couldn't help but wish that he'd be allowed to partner up with the teacher, at that moment _anyone_ beyond the mental age of seventeen would do for him, but sadly he knew fate was a cruel bitch and would smack his duty hard in his face. Also he was well aware that he couldn't risk Miss Gilbert's safety out here in the wilderness, this _was_ what he was actually appointed for.

"Mr. Saltzman, you do know why Damon's here in the first place? I wouldn't even be here if Damon wasn't here, so um... it'd be best if he stays with me," Elena responded politely.

Alaric exhaled loudly and said, "I guess that leaves me with Bonnie, then. Well, In this case, I don't really have to inform you about being careful and all the precautions for the wilderness Elena, I'm sure that Mr. Salvatore here is more then well versed in that area." He took a pause and then pointedly stared at both the people in front of him, "But I must inform the both of you clearly, it would be best if you don't entirely rely on Mr. Salvatore _and_ in turn I would like to advice you Mr Salvatore, that you only help her out, if it's absolutely necessary, otherwise there will be no point in doing the first task."

Damon attempted to smile at the teacher in reassurance but failed miserably; he was hopeless at somethings, so instead he nodded his head briefly. In contrast to her companion Elena smiled brightly at Mr. Saltzman, "Oh, you don't have to worry about anything Mr. Saltzman, I'll not depend on Damon." Damon didn't believe the girl's claim one bit, and from the looks of it, neither did Mr. Saltzman.

It wasn't that Elena was the kind of person that would deliberately rely on someone, it was just that she was naturally incapable of being self sufficient, and no one could blame her for that because she was not your average girl. Staring at both the male's unconvinced expressions her own face fell, "What? I'll be able to get though the task without Damon's help."

"I seriously doubt that," Alaric muttered under his breath, but Damon caught it and a smirk slipped passed his lips.

"Well then I believe I should inform Bonnie that I'll be accompanying her, while I do that you guys go ahead and stand with the rest, I have yet to explain what you all are suppose to do for the first task." After indicating towards the rest of Elena's class, Mr. Saltzman went to Bonnie.

Damon and Elena waited with the rest while they saw the teacher conversing with Bonnie. It was a little over a minute when they too made there way over to the class. Once more standing in front of the kids and the bodyguard, Alaric cleared his throat and started speaking again.

"Well now that everyone's got their pairs, lets move on to the next step. Now you all do know that you aren't little children, which is why I've thought of actually giving you a camping challenge. You guys settled well enough yesterday here with all your camping gear, even though a lot of you struggled long and hard with even setting up your tents," at this point his eyes quickly surveyed all the students he remembered having a really hard time, his eyes stayed on Elena a little longer and then he continued with his speech, "Now although sleeping in tents and having minimal facilities around may not be as comfortable as your houses, it's still enough to make you feel well accommodated in the current environment. You've spent one night at the campsite with your belongings to facilitate you; now however, the idea is to see how will you fend for yourself if all that is taken away from you."

The instant Alaric paused all the kids started talking amongst each other in confusion, they still had no idea what their teacher had planned for them. The hushed whispers slowly escalated in to shouts and Damon was having a hard time controlling his annoyance, Elena stood next to him but was deeply immersed in a conversation with Caroline and Klaus, which two by the way had somehow ended up paring together. Seeing as the chaos unfolding in front of him wasn't gonna go anywhere, Alaric intervened with a loud cough, which definitely went unnoticed and caused one of his eyebrows to twitch in annoyance, _'kids these day were so infuriating'_.

Standing amidst the crowd Damon too shared the teacher's sentiment, he crossed his arms onto his chest and stepped outside the group of frantic teenagers. He almost wanted to help out Alaric because he knew what it felt like dealing with teens, but he refrained from doing so, cause it really wasn't any of his business.

Glaring as hard as he could at his students Alaric couldn't contain his anger any longer, "Would all of you just shut up and listen to me before jumping on to your own conclusions!"

Not expecting such a tantrum from their usually calm teacher, made all the students absolutely quiet. The silence was so noticeable that everyone could hear the wind softly whistling around. Somehow Damon found the whole situation quite enjoyable, maybe perhaps somewhere deep down he could relate to Alaric, after all, his job on some level was akin to his, it may be distressful but both their roles were authoritative. For a second the bodyguard wondered, had they interacted more was there a possibility that he could have been friends with the teacher, for all he knew he seemed like a likeable character.

Not risking to loose the silence by further stretching it Alaric continued, "Well, now what was I saying, yeah; now the idea is to see how will you fend for yourself, if all the facilities are taken away from you. It's something like, what would you do to survive if someday you just land unprepared within a forest? So the task is, I want you all to leave this campsite for exactly 24 hours, explore, go as far as you think you can manage within the given time, as I want you back here tomorrow at exactly the same time you leave here today. You are not allowed to take anything of use, you are just supposed to pack enough material that would suffice for one meal and some water, that's it! Now I had thought of not allowing you anything at all as otherwise it would defy the purpose of sending you to this task altogether, but I figured that then it would be really cruel, so I discarded the initial idea."

The man took a brief pause to observe everyone's reaction, and they appeared awestruck, well except for Damon of course, who looked as if he had seen this coming.

After not even hearing even a squeak from anyone, the teacher continued talking once again, "Now you already know that you've been divided into pairs, I'm sure you've figured it out by now why exactly is that; if not then let me tell you, I thought it wouldn't be wise to send you all independently on this excursion. Hence the pairs. If one of you is incapable of something you can rely on your partner for that, it'll be a mutual relationship that might get you through the next 24 hours. So are we clear so far?"

There was no response from the students only some crickets chimed in the background.

"I said, are we clear so far?"

"Yes!" The entire group chorused as if suddenly they were reawakened from the dead.

"Good, now on to the next thing; there's gonna be eleven pairs considering you all, and I want you all to head in different directions, as you shouldn't be bumping into other pairs, nope I absolutely don't want that. You might cheat, due to thinking that it might benefit you somehow, but let me inform you, on one side it might turn out to be beneficial for you but on the other hand the other pairs may turn out to be a liability for you, so yeah do yourselves a favor, avoid others on your way. Everyone out there should be or at least try to be self sufficient."

" Mr Saltzman, how come there's eleven pairs, I thought you said we were twenty-four."

"Good observation, Tyler. You see me and my partner, that happens to be Bonnie by the way, aren't going on the excursion. We'll stay back here and make sure that none of you come back before the given time," answered Alaric with a knowing smile on his face, the guy knew what he was doing. Bonnie looked relieved, while the rest of the class glared at her with envy. The girl knew of the class' response to her good luck, but all she did was turn around and glare at Elena, who in turn ignored her and happily went over to Damon.

Upon seeing Elena next to him, Damon was once more assured of what was to come, '_life just couldn't get any better.' _

"So Miss Gilbert, I believe we should pack the food and water we require."

Sighing Elena nodded. Although she seemed excited, probably at the prospect of being entirely alone with Damon for the next 24 hours, she appeared a little shaken too, and Damon noticed it.

"What's the matter Miss Gilbert," he dropped his voice and teased, "you scared?"

"I'm not scared, it's just that I'm worried, this isn't gonna be easy."

"Well not for you of course, frankly speaking I was wondering how did you manage out here in this tacky campsite till now, and now we have Mr Saltzman's "task". I personally think you're not up for it."

"The campsite's been okay, It was just scary during the night," exclaimed Elena and then she averted her eyes, "I just didn't like the feeling of being in open woods."

Her words bridged a repellent subject, one that both were hoping to avoid till it was completely forgotten. But as fate was against them concerning certain matters, Elena made the mistake of unconsciously staring at his hair with a spark of longing in her eyes. As Damon saw where her eyes were directed, his face started heating up. As the awkwardness from the morning returned completely Elena chose exactly that moment to stare straight into his eyes.

Both were aware of what was going through the others head, and they silently kept on staring at each other. Sheepish Elena might be at the moment but gradually realization dawned on her that she hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, her caressing Damon's hair was something akin to her usually expressed affections, like holding his hand or circling his arm while walking, maybe perhaps her initial bashful reaction was the cause of her being caught by him. While still staring at the man in front of her, her thoughts finally settled and she accepted it to herself that she wasn't going to hide the unavoidable any longer, in fact she was going to express what she had held back since that beautifully wonderful moment.

Damon's face scrunched up in a slight dread as he saw the girl's expression change from a startled to a shy one. He knew something horrendous was coming his way, he metaphorically braced himself for the inevitable annoyance that he was most certainly gonna feel.

He stared at her a second longer, and then he saw her lips move,"Damon, I-I wanted to tell you something." And with that he sighed to himself, _'Here we go.'_

"Y-your hair, I love it."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, umm well, it's softer than what it appears to be."

A frown now covered Damon's face as he remarked, "Miss Gilbert, why are we talking about my hair."

"Cause I like talking about things related to you of course."

Elena's reply only made him angry, the girl was once again stepping onto the forbidden line and Damon had to stop her before he got more irritated. "Listen Miss Gilbert," he raised his pointer finger and stepped closer, "I know what you did last night, and I don't like it. So stop talking about it and never do anything like that again, you understand me?"

Elena looked at his stance, he looked so threatening and masculine, it only made her heart flutter._'I love this man,' _she thought and smiled exuberantly. While seeing her smile, Damon could only sigh, he wondered about how useless it was to reprimand the girl about certain matters. Thankfully Mr Saltzman chose that moment to speak once again, it helped both of them to avoid the matter at hand.

"Now I expect all of you to pack up and gather in front of me within fifteen minutes, I'll be checking your bags to make sure that none of you packed unnecessary materials, once that is done then you'll all be allowed to leave at precisely the same time, and we'll all be meeting at that same time tomorrow. Now is everything clear? Any questions? No? Good! Now get to packing!"

Finally taking in all that was about to come, Elena sighed deeply. Damon turned towards her directly and sternly said, "I think we should start packing up." The girl gave another sigh, "Yeah we should." Subtly she grabbed his hand and pulled them towards their tents.

"Damon are we allowed to pack some clothes?"

"I don't think so Miss Gilbert, the teacher only mentioned food and water."

Listening to those words the alarmed girl abruptly came to a halt and Damon stopped right next to her, "No, it can't be, it gets really cold at night and I'm just wearing shorts and a shirt that has absolutely no sleeves."

She was right, her babydoll shirt had thin straps to hold it up instead of sleeves. And that wasn't the only thing wrong with it; the shirt's material was flimsy enough, that since Damon was standing so close, he could make out the elaborate design of her white bra underneath. As his eyes raked her body he noticed how snugly her soft chest fit within the gorgeous piece of silk and lace. The man could also make out her flat bare stomach beneath the fluttery material of the shirt that cascaded below the chest area. The girl's short shorts didn't offer much covering, meaning; she was in for a rough night.

After a quick inspection of her flawless body, Damon brought his eyes back to hers, and as she stood there staring back into his with her brown pools of innocence, a sudden unpleasant thought hit him. If he was able to observe her like he did, then every other guy around also had the same privilege. And Damon Salvatore didn't like that thought one bit. A feral rage burst in his chest, and he could minutely feel a conflict in himself, on one side he wanted to reserve this enticing site, but never at the cost of other predators lurking around. He mentally used that term deliberately because he was aware of how dirty men could get and just the thought of it made him clench his fists.

Elena witnessed the fluctuation of expressions on her bodyguard's face and it immediately alarmed her because mostly he showcased exasperation. The girl was excessively confused because just a moment ago she had experienced a wave of pleasure as she saw him observe her figure in detail, she wondered what caused him to switch from inspection to anger. "Damon what's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" his voice sounded like a growl as he stepped closer, "This is what's wrong!" Elena looked down and saw his hand, it had some part of her shirt crumpled up in it now.

"What about it?" she trembled, and not just from his angry demeanor but also from the sensation that flowed through her as his gesture seemed not decent at all, on the contrary it was completely improper. Him stretching her shirt by holding it had cause her stomach to expose and she knew he could see it, her flawless skin was on display for him and adding to that he was being rough; it all felt amazing.

Damon knew what he was doing was inappropriate, but something overcame him and he continued as he stepped even closer. "You know what I mean," As he glared at the girl, he wanted to tell her how she shouldn't have worn what she did, but what he didn't understand was, why at the moment her being exposed to other males mattered more then being exposed to the cold later. The funny thing was her body wasn't even revealed in an indecent manner, however short or flimsy it may be she had on a proper form of clothing.

"No, I don't." By this point they were so close that their faces could be misinterpreted for touching each other. Damon was highly conflicted at that moment, he didn't know why his advancement on the matter had a possessive feel to it, he just felt something pinching him from the inside, and it was proving hard to decipher, it only made him more agitated with the girl in front of him and himself. _'Whats wrong with me, why am I even bothered about this?'_

"Damon, what's wrong?" the girl questioned again, but he was too immersed within his thoughts to notice. _'Is it, is it because it's Miss Gilbert? Yeah that might be the reason. Don't want this girl to be in any sort of inconvenience, that's my job after all'_ his thoughts echoed a satisfactory reason, and he believed it without pondering further .

But he couldn't tell her that, it would be like confessing that he cared about her encountering any sorts of problems, which he definitely did cause she was his responsibility. But he knew Miss Gilbert, and he knew she'd twist that fact and make something entirely bizarre and unbearable out of it. So he had to change tactics. "_This_ is wrong, your clothes, they're not even covering you properly, they're not enough to hold up against the cold. What do you expect to do when you'll be undoubtedly shivering at night."

"Err... well.."

"And what if you catch a fever, that will be even worse."

"Umm, I..."

Glaring Damon started "That's what I-" but he was unable to finish his sentence as a third voice intervened from a slight distance.

"Hey, Elena." It was Stefan.

Acting purely on instinct, Damon grabbed Elena by the waist and positioned her behind himself in order to obscure Stefan's vision of her. Damon most certainly didn't want that guy ogling Miss Gilbert. Startled Elena tried moving back, but Damon's arm that he stretched backwards stopped her from it. In a swift movement he slightly turned and glared at her, "Go inside your tent and pack edibles for the two of us, I'll get the water," She tried saying something but another glare from him made her leave.

Turning around he faced Stefan, the boy was scowling at him but Damon didn't pay him any heed, he moved towards his own tent in order to get the water and saw Stefan leave through his periphery. He knew an unexpected mentally aggravating day laid ahead of him and he just wished he could quickly get over with it. Sighing he opened his tent's flap and went inside. He emptied the entire contents of his backpack and just put in a water bottle, once done he exited and waited patiently outside Elena's tent.

A few minutes later she came out carrying a bag that seemed like it held the right amount of food. Reaching forward he said, "Here give me that, I'll put the stuff in mine, we don't need to carry two bags." Elena did as she was told. After the exchange was done Elena slipped her bad within the tent and looked at Damon. "So we ready to go?" she asked with a tint of excitement.

Nodding Damon didn't say anything, but grabbed her arm gently on his own accord and steered them towards where Alaric was waiting at their departing point.

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><p><strong>WHEW! Long chapter! Longest yet! Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. Now I'm again not gonna make any promises, I'm unpredictable as you've probably noticed. Plus I'm actually experiencing a problem that's further hindering the progress of this story. Guys I'm struggling greatly with my English language skills, I've sort of developed a complex that's really bringing me down. If you've seen nonsensical and ill structured sentence in the chapter, well guys that's the problem I was referring to. If you're further curious and don't exactly know what I mean by what I just said, then you're more than welcome to PM me and ask about it. Maybe you might even be able to help me out of my turmoil. Anyway thanks for reading and bye for now.<strong>


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